Ambulatory assessment of diurnal changes with a hand-held computer: Mood, attention and morningness–eveningness

Hand-held computers were used in the ambulatory assessment of subjective state (mood, arousal) and performance in a go/no-go paradigm and a working memory test. Sixty-one students participated in this investigation with five self-reports each day for two consecutive days. Subjective state variables showed clear within-subject correlations, but the correlations were negligible between subjective state and performance on both in-field tests of attentional performance. Selfrated morningness–eveningness types showed significant differences in their diurnal change in working memory performance. A retrospection effect, i.e. a negative bias in selfratings made in the evening or morning following the day being assessed, reported previously, was replicated.