Ocular exposure to blue-enriched light has an asymmetric influence on neural activity and spatial attention

Newman, Daniel P.; Lockley, Steven W.; Loughnane, Gerard M.; Martins, Ana Carina Pamplona; Abe, Rafael; Zoratti, Marco; Kelly, Simon P.; O'Neill, Megan; Rajaratnam, Shanthakumar M W; O’Connell, Redmond G; Bellgrove, Mark A.

doi:10.1038/srep27754

Cited by 17 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 76 publications

(128 reference statements)

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“…decision outcome, reaction time, stimulus properties) have been used to investigate the relationship between brain activity and behaviour/perception (see for example Busch et al ., ; Ratcliff et al ., ; Cohen & Cavanagh, ; Pernet et al ., ; Schyns et al ., ; Cohen & Donner, ; Gross, ) unobservable in traditional analyses where trial‐by‐trial variance is eradicated through averaging of data at the single‐subject level. Typically, single‐trial neural activity is correlated with single‐trial behavioural measurements such as reaction time or accuracy (Kelly & O'Connell, ; Newman et al ., ). However, psychometric function parameter estimation requires the input of behavioural responses across multiple trials and hence cannot be defined based on single‐trial observations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…For example, pre‐stimulus oscillatory power in the alpha band (~8:14 Hz) over occipito‐parietal sites has been shown to be inversely related to the likelihood of detecting a perithreshold visual stimulus (Ergenoglu et al ., ; Van Dijk et al ., ; Busch et al ., ). Additionally, the relative lateralization of alpha power between left and right posterior brain regions has been found to predict visual field reaction time (RT) asymmetries in lateralized detection tasks, that is to predict spatial bias (Thut et al ., ; Kelly et al ., ; Newman et al ., , ). While early research mainly revealed the pre‐stimulus predictors of binary decisions in threshold detection tasks (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trial‐by‐trial co‐variation of pre‐stimulusEEGalpha power and visuospatial bias reflects a mixture of stochastic and deterministic effects

Benwell

Keitel

Harvey

et al. 2017

Eur J of Neuroscience

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Human perception of perithreshold stimuli critically depends on oscillatory EEG activity prior to stimulus onset. However, it remains unclear exactly which aspects of perception are shaped by this pre-stimulus activity and what role stochastic (trial-bytrial) variability plays in driving these relationships. We employed a novel jackknife approach to link single-trial variability in oscillatory activity to psychometric measures from a task that requires judgement of the relative length of two line segments (the landmark task). The results provide evidence that pre-stimulus alpha fluctuations influence perceptual bias. Importantly, a mediation analysis showed that this relationship is partially driven by long-term (deterministic) alpha changes over time, highlighting the need to account for sources of trial-by-trial variability when interpreting EEG predictors of perception. These results provide fundamental insight into the nature of the effects of ongoing oscillatory activity on perception. The jackknife approach we implemented may serve to identify and investigate neural signatures of perceptual relevance in more detail.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trial‐by‐trial co‐variation of pre‐stimulusEEGalpha power and visuospatial bias reflects a mixture of stochastic and deterministic effects

Benwell

Keitel

Harvey

et al. 2017

Eur J of Neuroscience

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“…Transient alpha oscillations are thought to reflect a sensory gating, or prioritization, mechanism 40,41 . For example, fluctuations in the cortical alpha rhythm have been associated with visual-spatial, sensory, and objectbased attention 39,[45][46][47] , including response to blue-enriched white light 43 . Specifically, transient reduced alpha power typically reflects enhanced neuronal activity, or excitability [48][49][50] , while transient enhanced alpha power is considered a marker for cortical inhibition 40,41 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These are thought to reflect changes in visual attention allocation and are typically observed locally as a transient decrease in alpha power, or a transient desynchronization, over the area of the brain that processes the stimulus presented [38][39][40][41][42] . Interestingly, recent evidence suggests that these more transient oscillatory changes could be modulated by prior exposure to bright blue light, likely implicating ipRGCs 43,44 . However, the transient response to light has not been investigated in blind participants retaining non-visual responses.…”

Section: The Discovery Of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglimentioning

confidence: 99%

Light modulates oscillatory alpha activity in the occipital cortex of totally visually blind individuals with intact non-visual photoreception

Vandewalle

Ackeren

Daneault

et al. 2017

Preprint

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The discovery of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) marked a major shift in our understanding of how light is processed by the mammalian brain. These ipRGCs influence multiple functions not directly related to vision such as the synchronization of circadian rhythmicity, pupil constriction, the regulation of alertness and sleep, as well as the modulation of cognition. More recently, it was demonstrated that ipRGCs may also contribute to basic visual functions. The impact of ipRGCs on visual functions, independently of image forming photoreceptors, remains difficult to isolate, however, particularly in humans. We previously showed that exposure to intense monochromatic blue light (465nm) induced awareness of light in a forced choice task in three rare totally visually blind individuals without rod and cone function, but who retained non-visual responses to light, very likely via ipRGCs. The neural foundation of such light awareness in the absence of conscious vision is unknown, however. In this study, we characterized the brain activity of these three rare participants using electroencephalography (EEG), and demonstrate that unconsciously perceived blue light triggers an early and reliable desynchronization (i.e. decreased power) of the alpha EEG rhythm (8-14 Hz) over the occipital cortex. These results provide compelling insight into how ipRGC may contribute to transient changes in ongoing brain activity. They suggest that occipital alpha rhythm synchrony is modulated by non-visual ipRGCs photoreception; a process that may contribute to the awareness of light in those blind individuals.

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“…Recently, another neuroimaging study revealed that melanopsin-based photoreception activates a cerebral network including frontal regions, classically involved in attention and oculomotor responses (Hung et al, 2017). A range of studies introduced blue-enriched white light and showed that it improves subjective alertness and performance (Viola et al, 2008), speeds response times (Newman et al, 2016) and is more effective in reducing subjective sleepiness and enhancing cognitive performance, specifically associated with tasks of sustained attention (Chellappa et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term reduction of short wavelength light affects sustained attention and visuospatial working memory

Domagalik

Ogińska

Beldzik

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The short wavelength, i.e. blue light, is crucial for non-image forming effects such as entrainment of circadian system. Moreover, many studies showed that blue light enhances alertness and performance in cognitive tasks. However, most of scientific reports in this topic is based on studies using short exposure to blue or blue-enriched light and only few focused on the effects of its reduced transmittance, especially in longer period. The latter could potentially give insight into understanding if age-related sleep problems and cognitive decline are related to less amount of blue light reaching the retina, as our lenses become more yellow with age. In this study, we investigated the effects of prolonged blocking of blue light on cognitive functioning, in particular -sustained attention and visuospatial working memory, and sleep. We used amber contact lenses reducing transmittance of blue light by approximately 90% for the period of four weeks on a group of young, healthy participants. No changes were observed for measurements related to sleep and sleep-wake rhythm.The significant effect was shown both for sustained attention and visuospatial memory, i.e. the longer blocking the blue light lasted, the greater decrease in performance was observed. Additionally, the follow-up session was conducted (approximately one week after taking off the blue-blocking lenses) and revealed that in case of sustained attention this detrimental effect of blocking BL is fully reversible. Our findings provide evidence that prolonged reduction of BL exposure directly affects human cognitive functioning regardless of sleep-related conditions.

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Ocular exposure to blue-enriched light has an asymmetric influence on neural activity and spatial attention

Cited by 17 publications

References 76 publications

Trial‐by‐trial co‐variation of pre‐stimulusEEGalpha power and visuospatial bias reflects a mixture of stochastic and deterministic effects

Trial‐by‐trial co‐variation of pre‐stimulusEEGalpha power and visuospatial bias reflects a mixture of stochastic and deterministic effects

Light modulates oscillatory alpha activity in the occipital cortex of totally visually blind individuals with intact non-visual photoreception

Long-term reduction of short wavelength light affects sustained attention and visuospatial working memory

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