Tapping task as an indicator of circadian rhythm changes

Abstract

Seven trained subjects (20-23 years old) took part in an experiment on circadian changes in body temperature, heart ratte and blood pressure. The values of these variables were taken every hour during 24 hours. Immediately after that the subjects were asked to do a tapping task (regular tapping on a micro-switch) while resting and during the multiplication of 3-digital numbers with 2 and 3-digital numbers with 7. The time intervals between successive tappings were recorded in m/s via a computer on the disquettes. Various variability indeices of the tapping task intervals showed high correlations amongst themselves, while the correlations were generally lower amongst the parameters of the psychological variables, tapping parameters and mental arithmetics. Furthermore, the taping PML-index wasn’t found as a good indicator of a mental load under the conditions of the multiplication of the 3-digital numbers with 2 and 7, while at the same time significant correlations were obtained between some tapping task parameters and mental arithmetic. It seems however, that some kind of other analyses might be more promising.