Pavlovian conditioning may partly explain the effects of light therapy.
Explicit pairings of a non-photic stimulus and exposure to light are capable of inducing behavioural responses that are characteristic of the resetting of the circadian system by light as well as cellular effects in the neural regions that are normally activated only by light. The setting of light therapy as used for treatment of winter seasonal affective disorder resembles that of Pavlovian conditioning. The conditioning may provide a rationale for the sustained therapeutic response to light treatment observed to last for the rest of the season in some of the patients treated with light.
Partonen
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Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Finland.
D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010789:Phototherapy; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000628:therapy