PSY 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Amygdala, Ghrelin, Cortisol
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A: our bodies have an internal biological clock, roughly synchronized with the 24-hour cycle of night and day. This circadian rhythm appears in our daily patterns of body temperature, arousal, sleeping, and waking. Age and experiences can alter these patterns, resetting our biological clock. Circadian rhythm: the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle. As morning approaches, body temperature rises; it then peaks during the day, dips for a time in early afternoon and begins to drop again in the evening. Thinking is sharpest and memory most accurate when we are at our daily peak in circadian arousal. Age and experience can alter our circadian rhythm. Young adults are evening-energized owls, with performance improving across the day (may & hasher, 1998). Most older adults are morning-loving larks, with performance declining as the day wears on.
