An international research team led by scholars from the University of Messina and the University of Bologna, in collaboration with the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (Dortmund, Germany), reveals that the time of day at which an oral exam is taken can significantly influence its outcome. Analyzing more than 100,000 university exams, the researchers found that students perform better in the middle of the day, while they are more likely to fail if the exam takes place before 9 a.m. or after 3 p.m. Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the study was coordinated by Carmelo Mario Vicario, full professor in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience and director of the Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Messina.