Circadian Misalignment in Healthy Young Adults Influences the Variability of Inhibitory Performance Modeled by the Horse Race Model

This study examined the association between social jetlag and inhibitory control in healthy young adults. Two hundred and eleven participants (aged 18 to 24 years) completed the self-report assessments and a remote Stop-Signal Task (SST). Response inhibition was measured using the horse-race model and analyzed using four SST-derived metrics: reaction time (RT) on Go trials, RT on unsuccessful stop trials, the SST Race Model (RT stop-fail minus RT Go), and the Stop-Signal Reaction Time (SSRT). These outcomes served as dependent variables in generalized linear models, with absolute social jetlag (assessed by the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire) as the main predictor and covariates including age, sex, education, sleep insufficiency, and minor psychiatric symptoms. Results showed that higher social jetlag significantly predicted longer SSRTs (β = 23.13, p = .014) and greater SST Race Model values (β = 18.31, p = .015), indicating delayed inhibition processes. No significant associations were observed for raw RTs, highlighting the importance of computational modeling in detecting subtle cognitive effects of circadian misalignment. The findings support the idea that circadian misalignment, which is common in student populations, may disrupt executive functioning.