ReviewFrontiers in neurology2018
Light and Cognition: Roles for Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Arousal.
Review in Frontiers in neurology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 89 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
89 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 270 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diurnal variation in variables related to cognitive performance: a systematic review.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2024Pooled it
- The Effects of Light Therapy on Cognitive Function and Stress in Women With Breast Cancer Before Systemic Treatment.Cancer medicine · 2025Trial
- Different light color temperatures in the morning on the effectiveness of rehabilitation training in patients with ischemic stroke: a prospective, single-center, randomized controlled clinical trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2025Trial
- Article
- Spectral Composition of Ambient White Light Modulates Photophobia and Headache Intensity During Migraine Attacks.Neurology and therapy · 2026Article
- A lipid-binding protein that boosts daytime wake is mainly located at the body surface and blocks light-induced lipid peroxidation in the brain.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Biphasic sleep is a feature of sleep disturbance in SYNGAP1-RD.Sleep medicine · 2026Article
- Associations between physical activity and sedentary time with sleep duration and sleep quality in adolescents.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Review
- The Interplay Between Circadian Clocks and the Tumour Microenvironment in Breast Cancer.Cancers · 2026Review
- The relationship between premenstrual syndrome and circadian rhythm, depressive mood, and anxiety.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide Neurons Mediate Light-induced Transient Forgetting.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Article
- The rhythm of decline: Circadian disruption in neurodegeneration.Journal of food and drug analysis · 2025Review
- The relationship between chronotype, insomnia and depressive symptoms in Chinese male prisoners.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Subjective and Objective Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairments Among Systemic and Radiation Therapy-Naïve Female Cancer Patients.Cancer medicine · 2025Article
- Role of visual and non-visual opsins in blue light-induced neurodegeneration inFrontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Light does not phase shift the circadian clock of subcutaneous adipose tissue in vitro.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2025Article
- Article
- Mapping the Connection Between Circadian Rhythms, Metabolism, and Neurodegeneration: Exploring Therapeutic Strategies.Current Alzheimer research · 2025Review
- Moral decision-making at night and the impact of night work with blue-enriched white light or warm white light: a counterbalanced crossover study.Annals of medicine · 2024Article
29 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Light exerts a wide range of effects on mammalian physiology and behavior. As well as synchronizing circadian rhythms to the external environment, light has been shown to modulate autonomic and neuroendocrine responses as well as regulating sleep and influencing cognitive processes such as attention, arousal, and performance. The last two decades have seen major advances in our understanding of the retinal photoreceptors that mediate these non-image forming responses to light, as well as the neural pathways and molecular mechanisms by which circadian rhythms are generated and entrained to the external light/dark (LD) cycle. By contrast, our understanding of the mechanisms by which lighting influences cognitive processes is more equivocal. The effects of light on different cognitive processes are complex. As well as the direct effects of light on alertness, indirect effects may also occur due to disrupted circadian entrainment. Despite the widespread use of disrupted LD cycles to study the role circadian rhythms on cognition, the different experimental protocols used have subtly different effects on circadian function which are not always comparable. Moreover, these protocols will also disrupt sleep and alter physiological arousal, both of which are known to modulate cognition. Studies have used different assays that are dependent on different cognitive and sensory processes, which may also contribute to their variable findings. Here, we propose that studies addressing the effects of different lighting conditions on cognitive processes must also account for their effects on circadian rhythms, sleep, and arousal if we are to fully understand the physiological basis of these responses.
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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.