Trial reportSleep2016
Exposure to Blue Light Increases Subsequent Functional Activation of the Prefrontal Cortex During Performance of a Working Memory Task.
Trial report in Sleep, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05616819 (Regulating Mood and Suicidal Ideation With Morning Light Exposure Treatment), which is not on this map. Cited by 46 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Regulating Mood and Suicidal Ideation With Morning Light Exposure Treatment
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.
- The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of blue light during and after exposure on auditory working memory.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2025Trial
- Acute exposure to blue wavelength light during memory consolidation improves verbal memory performance.PloS one · 2017Trial
- Cortical excitability is affected by light exposure - Distinct effects in adolescents and young adults.Neurobiology of sleep and circadian rhythms · 2026Article
- Evening smartphone exposure impairs sleep quality and next-day performance in elite soccer players: a randomized controlled trial.Biology of sport · 2026Article
- Effects of light on brain-state dynamics and energy landscape.Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Cone-Specific Filter-Based Neuromodulation: A Proposed Clinical Framework for Amblyopia, Strabismus, and ADHD.Clinics and practice · 2025Article
- Neural mechanisms of the V2M-PrL pathway mediate blue light-induced spatial memory impairment.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Relationships between light exposure and aspects of cognitive function in everyday life.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- The Impact of Dynamic Lighting on Sleep Timing and Duration for Hospitalised Patients.Journal of sleep research · 2025Article
- Light of both high and low melanopic illuminance improves alertness and attention during daytime.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Acute effects of blue and red light exposure on cognitive performance, exercise capacity, perceived effort, and dynamic balance: A randomized crossover study.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2025Article
- Hypothalamic Orexin Projections to the Hippocampal CA1 Region Alleviate Cognitive and Synaptic Plasticity Impairments Induced by Blue Light Exposure.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Article
- Impact of evening blue light exposure timing on sleep, motor, and cognitive performance in young athletes with intermediate chronotype.Biology of sport · 2025Article
- Impact of domestic white LED light on cognitive functions and amelioration of blue light blocking lens (BBL) on healthy adults.Neurobiology of sleep and circadian rhythms · 2025Article
- Circadian photoreception influences loss aversion.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Influence of lighting on sleep behaviour, circadian rhythm and spontaneous blink rate in stabled riding school horses (Equus caballus).PloS one · 2025Article
- Brainwave Patterns and Metabolic Adaptations in Rowers Crossing the Atlantic: A Case Series Pilot Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Blue Light and Digital Screens Revisited: A New Look at Blue Light from the Vision Quality, Circadian Rhythm and Cognitive Functions Perspective.Journal of biomedical physics & engineering · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesProlonged exposure to blue wavelength light has been shown to have an alerting effect, and enhances performance on cognitive tasks. A small number of studies have also shown that relatively short exposure to blue light leads to changes in functional brain responses during the period of exposure. The extent to which blue light continues to affect brain functioning during a cognitively challenging task after cessation of longer periods of exposure (i.e., roughly 30 minutes or longer), however, has not been fully investigated.
methodsA total of 35 healthy participants (18 female) were exposed to either blue (469 nm) (n = 17) or amber (578 nm) (n = 18) wavelength light for 30 minutes in a darkened room, followed immediately by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while undergoing a working memory task (N-back task).
resultsParticipants in the blue light condition were faster in their responses on the N-back task and showed increased activation in the dorsolateral (DLPFC) and ventrolateral (VLPFC) prefrontal cortex compared to those in the amber control light condition. Furthermore, greater activation within the VLPFC was correlated with faster N-back response times.
conclusionsThis is the first study to suggest that a relatively brief, single exposure to blue light has a subsequent beneficial effect on working memory performance, even after cessation of exposure, and leads to temporarily persisting functional brain changes within prefrontal brain regions associated with executive functions. These findings may have broader implication for using blue-enriched light in a variety of work settings where alertness and quick decision-making are important.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.