Chronobiology internationalOct 30, 2016

How time of day affects economic decisions in morning and evening people

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 25, 2026

Abstract

Participants rejected unfair offers in an economic decision-making game, showing similar behavior across chronotype and times of day.

Chronotype (morning-type vs. evening-type) did not significantly alter the rejection of unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game.
Decision-making strategies appeared consistent across different times of day (9 a.m. vs. 5 p.m.).
Morning-types took more time to respond to offers with high uncertainty compared to evening-types.
Higher proactive control was observed in morning-types during a cognitive task, indicating a more cautious decision-making style.
Morning-types may exhibit greater conscientiousness and lower risk-taking behavior than evening-types.

Simplified

Decision-making is affected by psychological factors like emotional state or cognitive control, which may also vary with circadian rhythmicity. Here, we tested the influence of chronotype (32 morning-type versus 32 evening-type) and time of day (9 a.m. versus 5 p.m.) on interpersonal decision-making as measured by the Ultimatum Game. Participants had to accept or reject different economic offers proposed by a virtual participant. Acceptance involved distribution of gains as proposed, whereas rejection resulted in no gain for either player. The results of the game showed a deviation from rational performance, as participants usually rejected the unfair offers. This behaviour was similar for both chronotype groups, and in both times of day. This result may reflect the robustness of decision-making strategies across standard circadian phases under ecological conditions. Furthermore, morning-types invested more time than evening-types to respond to high-uncertainty offers. This more cautious decision-making style of morning-types fits with our finding of higher proactive control as compared to evening-types when performing the AX-Continuous Performance Task. In line with the literature on personality traits, our results suggest that morning-types behave with more conscientiousness and less risk-taking than evening-type individuals.

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How time of day affects economic decisions in morning and evening people

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