title: Effects of light wavelength on MEG ERD/ERS during a working memory task.
abstract: We investigated the effects of light wavelengths on cortical oscillatory activity associated with working memory processes. Cortical activity responses were measured using magnetoencephalography (MEG) while participants performed an auditory Sternberg memory task during exposure to light of different wavelength. Each trial of the memory task consisted of four words presented as a memory set and one word presented as a probe. All words were presented audibly. Participants were instructed to indicate whether the probe word was or was not presented within the memory set. A total of 90 trials were conducted under the light exposure. Event-related synchronization (ERS) and event-related desynchronization responses in the alpha frequency range during the task were analyzed. Results showed that, during memory encoding, ERS responses were significantly greater in the short-wavelength (blue) light condition than in the middle-wavelength (green) light condition, approximately 20-30min after the onset of light exposure. Behavioral performance was very high throughout the experiment and there was no difference between the light conditions. Although the light effects were not observed in behavior, the result of ERS suggests that 20-30min of exposure to blue light enhances cortical activity related to active memory maintenance and/or attention to auditory stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, Japan; Department of Architecture, School of Engineering, Daido University, 40 Hakusui-cho, Minami-ku, Nagoya 457-8532, Japan.
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, Japan; Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan. Electronic address: s.nakagawa@99.alumni.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003344:Cortical Synchronization / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Event-related desynchronization/synchronization; Magnetoencephalography (MEG); Monochromatic light; Working memory