Ocular exposure to blue-enriched light has an asymmetric influence on neural activity and spatial attention.
Brain networks subserving alertness in humans interact with those for spatial attention orienting. We employed blue-enriched light to directly manipulate alertness in healthy volunteers. We show for the first time that prior exposure to higher, relative to lower, intensities of blue-enriched light speeds response times to left, but not right, hemifield visual stimuli, via an asymmetric effect on right-hemisphere parieto-occipital α-power. Our data give rise to the tantalising possibility of light-based interventions for right hemisphere disorders of spatial attention.
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Daniel P
DP
Newman
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.|Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA and Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Steven W
SW
Lockley
School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Gerard M
GM
Loughnane
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.|Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil.
Ana Carina P
AC
Martins
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.|Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiaba, Brazil.
Rafael
R
Abe
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.|Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiaba, Brazil.
Marco T R
MT
Zoratti
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Simon P
SP
Kelly
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Megan H
MH
O'Neill
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.|Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA and Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Shantha M W
SM
Rajaratnam
Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Redmond G
RG
O'Connell
Monash Institute for Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN), School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Mark A
MA
Bellgrove
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005453:Fluorescence; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D011930:Reaction Time; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult