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Biosocial behaviour cycles: a field study in an east indian village community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Barbara Gast  and
Alfred Meier-Koll
Barbara Gast
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, West Germany
Alfred Meier-Koll
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, West Germany
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Summary

Many physiological functions of the human body as well as human behaviour are regulated by endogenous rhythms. While circadian rhythms with periods of about 24 hr serve to adjust body functions and patterns of behaviour to the geophysical day/night cycle, intrinsic rhythms with shorter periods, called ultradian cycles, subdivide the 24-hr interval. For example, motor activity, perception and cognitive style are influenced by an intrinsic cycle of about 1½ hr. Despite numerous laboratory studies, the functions of ultradian rhythms are as yet unknown. In this field study, endogenous short-term cycles were observed in the daily behavioural patterns of illiterate individuals living without artificial time-cues in a small East Indian village community. Time series analysis of the result provides additional evidence that behavioural patterns of adults as well as infants and children living under natural conditions may be regulated by intrinsic rhythms with period intervals of 1–3 hr. Furthermore ultradian behaviour cycles in single subjects can be synchronized within a common time-frame. This suggests that intrinsic ultradian cycles may serve to organize daily behaviour patterns for optimal co-ordination and satisfaction of individual and common demands.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 1987 , pp. 27 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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