The project aims to study daytime variation in cognitive function (mental processes involved in knowledge acquisition, information manipulation and reasoning) in middle-aged adults using the world’s largest health database –UK Biobank, investigating if this is impacted by the individual’s propensity to sleep at particular times. The research will enhance our understanding of the correlation between the circadian clock (biological clock controlled by part of the brain) and cognitive function. This could have implications for timing of work and activities, and the mechanisms that associate circadian clock to neuropsychiatric disease.
It is hypothesised that cognitive function fluctuates throughout the day, impacted by an individual’s behavioural demonstration of circadian rhythms (internal processes regulating the sleep-wake cycle). UK Biobank contains extensive information on 502,649 individuals including their propensity to sleep in a 24-hour period, results of cognitive function tests they participated in at varying times of day and considerable health and lifestyle information allowing us to exclude individuals with diseases directly impacting cognitive function.
The data will be analysed and presented using descriptive statistics and data visualisations. Standard statistical methods including multiple linear regression will be used to test the hypotheses. Analysis will be carried out with the softwares: Stata, R or SPSS.
The results of the project will contribute to the study of circadian phenotypes in UK Biobank and be put forward for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The student will present any interesting findings at a research conference with support from the research team at the Kathleen Lonsdale Human Health Institute.
