Word/phrase to describe time of an event relative to a second event

Question

I'm reviewing papers that discuss the relationship between exercise and cognitive testing. Specifically, I'm categorizing papers by when the exercise happened relative to the cognitive test.

For example, category 1 might be papers where the exercise and cognitive testing happened concurrently, category 2 contains papers where testing happened immediately after cessation of exercise. There are about 5 categories, each one covers a different amount of time between exercise and testing (1 hour, 1 week, 1 year etc).

What word, or short phrase, can I use to describe this type of temporal breakdown? I'd like to be able to use the word/phrase in a sentence like:

• "Does the relationship between exercise and cognitive testing differ depending on < word >?"

A few words that I've considered but don't quite fit the bill:

• Recency: doesn't really capture the case where exercise and testing are happening at the same time
• Timescale: to me, this seems to imply something about duration rather than when the event occurred relative to another

Answer 1

I'd go for recency (how recently it happened) so:

"Does the recency of exercise influence the results of cognitive testing?"

See recency on ODOL:

Research has also shown, however, that self-reported drug use increases as recency decreases.

We then computed a recency of use measure by subtracting the difference between the respondent's actual age and the age he or she last reported any use of a particular substance.

Answer 2

Interval. Overlap. Their Temporal relation (or connection).