Episodic ultradian events in core body temperature: a possible cause of altered cognitive performance

Episodic ultradian events (EUEs) are autonomous biological rhythms with highly variable temporalparameters, that may prepare an organism to react to unpredictable interactions. Circa-hourlyfluctuations in core body temperature are expressed as EUEs, and are correlated with exploratorybehaviour. The underlying cognitive and motor mechanisms that prepare the organism for behaviourare unknown. Cognitive tasks and brain stimulation techniques were used to assess if and howcognitive and motor performance were altered during EUEs. It was found that visual working memorywas improved during the onset of an EUE compared to offset, but motor performance was notchanged during EUEs.