Analytical in the morning, emotional in the evening
MOST people tend to think analytically and coolly in the early hours of the morning, while they become emotional and impulsive in the evenings, a large-scale analysis of tweets has found.
The pattern was discovered by researchers at the University in Bristol in England after they analysed seven billion words from over 800 million Twitter messages.
AI expert Nello Cristianini and colleagues evaluated anonymised Twitter news from 54 major British cities over four years and sorted the tweets according to 73 indicators associated with different thinking styles.
The study, published in the scientific journal Plos
One, found that between five and six o’clock in the morning the highest proportion of words related to logical thinking, intelligence and education were used. Linguistic indicators of performance and power also play a bigger role during this time frame.
However, in the evening and at night the style of speech changes, becoming more emotional and impulsive – and often also more social. Between 3am and 4am the most existential thoughts and the least positive emotions are expressed.
All in all, the study found that language use changes strongly and predictably in accordance with the daily cycle of the body, fitting in with differences in neuronal activities, metabolism and hormone levels. “Circadian rhythms are part of most systems in the human body,” said study coauthor Stafford Lightman.
“The analysis of media content, if done properly, can provide us with valuable information for both the social and biological sciences. We’re still trying to learn how to make the most of it,” Cristianini said. — dpa