Effect of time of day on line-bisecting performance in female soccer players

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of time of day on visuospatial attention in trained subjects. We used the line-bisecting task. The protocol involved 30 healthy volunteer female soccer players (age: 21.1 ± 2.1 years, level of experience: 8.1 ± 3.2 years, height: 1.7 ± 0.03 cm, weight: 59.2 ± 3.49 kg). They performed two-test sessions at different times of day, 8:00 am and 8:00 pm. The results showed a significant time-of-day effect on line-bisecting performance, with a better precision in the evening than in the morning. The rightward error observed in the morning was reversed in the evening. An interaction between time of day x length was also observed, indicating that the difference in performance between the morning and the evening increased with the length of the line. We conclude that activities that require better visuospatial performance should be programed to take place in the evening.