Circadian fluctuations in glucocorticoid level predict perceptual discrimination sensitivity
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Summary Slow neurobiological rhythms, such as the circadian secretion of glucocorticoid (GC) hormones, modulate a wide variety of body functions. Whether and how such endocrine fluctuations also exert an influence on perceptual abilities is largely uncharted. Here, we show that phasic, moderate increases in GC availability prove beneficial to auditory discrimination. In an age-varying sample of N = 68 healthy human participants, we characterise the covariation of saliva cortisol with perceptual sensitivity in an auditory pitch-discrimination task at five time points across the sleep--wake cycle. First, momentary saliva cortisol levels were captured well by the time relative to wake-up and overall sleep duration. Second, within individuals, higher cortisol level just prior to behavioural testing predicted better pitch discrimination ability, expressed as a steepened psychometric curve. This effect of glucocorticoids held under a set of statistical control models. Our results pave the way for more in-depth studies on neuroendocrinological determinants of sensory encoding and perception.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".