Temporal dynamics of EEG activity during short- and long-wavelength light exposures in the early morning

BMC Research Notes

Mariana G Figueiro¹  Mark S Rea¹  Yosuke Okamoto² 

[1] Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 21 Union Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA;Present Address: Health Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, Japan

关键词: Alpha activity;    EEG;    Alertness;    Monochromatic light;    Light exposure;   

Others  :  1134403
DOI  :  10.1186/1756-0500-7-113

 received in 2013-01-09, accepted in 2014-02-19,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

It is well known that exposure to light, especially of short wavelength, enhances human alertness during the nighttime. However, more information is needed to elucidate the effects of light wavelength on alertness at other times of day. The present study investigated how two narrowband light spectra affected human alertness during the morning after awakening. We measured electroencephalography (EEG) during 48-minute exposure to narrowband short- and long-wavelength light and darkness in the early morning.

Results

Power densities of EEG during each light exposure were calculated. The time course of EEG power indicated that, compared with remaining in darkness, the power in the alpha frequency range (8–13 Hz) was significantly lower after approximately 30 minutes of exposures to both the short- and the long-wavelength light.

Conclusions

These results suggest that not only short-wavelength light but also long-wavelength light, which does not suppress melatonin levels at night, can affect alertness in the early morning. These results suggest that the alerting effects of light in the early morning hours may be mediated by mechanisms other than those that are exclusively sensitive to short-wavelength light.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Okamoto et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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