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Fernandez, F., Lu, D., Ha, P., Costacurta, P., Chavez, R., Heller, H. C., et al. (2014). Circadian rhythm. Dysrhythmia in the suprachiasmatic nucleus inhibits memory processing. Science, 346(6211), 854–857.
Abstract: Chronic circadian dysfunction impairs declarative memory in humans but has little effect in common rodent models of arrhythmia caused by clock gene knockouts or surgical ablation of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). An important problem overlooked in these translational models is that human dysrhythmia occurs while SCN circuitry is genetically and neurologically intact. Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) are particularly well suited for translational studies because they can be made arrhythmic by a one-time photic treatment that severely impairs spatial and recognition memory. We found that once animals are made arrhythmic, subsequent SCN ablation completely rescues memory processing. These data suggest that the inhibitory effects of a malfunctioning SCN on cognition require preservation of circuitry between the SCN and downstream targets that are lost when these connections are severed.
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Kretschmer, V., Schmidt, K. - H., & Griefahn, B. (2012). Bright light effects on working memory, sustained attention and concentration of elderly night shift workers. Lighting Research and Technology, 44(3), 316–333.
Abstract: Night shift workers show a decline in performance during working time. Due to demographic change, the labour market requires more elderly people to work at night. Ageing is accompanied by a decrease in cognitive abilities, in the capabilities of the visual system and in coping with night work from the age of 40 onwards. This investigation focuses on the effects of bright light exposure on the working memory, concentration and sustained attention of elderly persons during three consecutive night shifts. After statistical control for neuroticism and intelligence as covariates, the results demonstrate that exposure to bright light at night reduces error rates for a working memory task and a concentration performance task but performance on a sustained attention task is completely unaffected.
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LeGates, T. A., Altimus, C. M., Wang, H., Lee, H. - K., Yang, S., Zhao, H., et al. (2012). Aberrant light directly impairs mood and learning through melanopsin-expressing neurons. Nature, 491(7425), 594–598.
Abstract: The daily solar cycle allows organisms to synchronize their circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles to the correct temporal niche. Changes in day-length, shift-work, and transmeridian travel lead to mood alterations and cognitive function deficits. Sleep deprivation and circadian disruption underlie mood and cognitive disorders associated with irregular light schedules. Whether irregular light schedules directly affect mood and cognitive functions in the context of normal sleep and circadian rhythms remains unclear. Here we show, using an aberrant light cycle that neither changes the amount and architecture of sleep nor causes changes in the circadian timing system, that light directly regulates mood-related behaviours and cognitive functions in mice. Animals exposed to the aberrant light cycle maintain daily corticosterone rhythms, but the overall levels of corticosterone are increased. Despite normal circadian and sleep structures, these animals show increased depression-like behaviours and impaired hippocampal long-term potentiation and learning. Administration of the antidepressant drugs fluoxetine or desipramine restores learning in mice exposed to the aberrant light cycle, suggesting that the mood deficit precedes the learning impairments. To determine the retinal circuits underlying this impairment of mood and learning, we examined the behavioural consequences of this light cycle in animals that lack intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. In these animals, the aberrant light cycle does not impair mood and learning, despite the presence of the conventional retinal ganglion cells and the ability of these animals to detect light for image formation. These findings demonstrate the ability of light to influence cognitive and mood functions directly through intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells.
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Wright, K. P. J., Hull, J. T., & Czeisler, C. A. (2002). Relationship between alertness, performance, and body temperature in humans. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 283(6), R1370–7.
Abstract: Body temperature has been reported to influence human performance. Performance is reported to be better when body temperature is high/near its circadian peak and worse when body temperature is low/near its circadian minimum. We assessed whether this relationship between performance and body temperature reflects the regulation of both the internal biological timekeeping system and/or the influence of body temperature on performance independent of circadian phase. Fourteen subjects participated in a forced desynchrony protocol allowing assessment of the relationship between body temperature and performance while controlling for circadian phase and hours awake. Most neurobehavioral measures varied as a function of internal biological time and duration of wakefulness. A number of performance measures were better when body temperature was elevated, including working memory, subjective alertness, visual attention, and the slowest 10% of reaction times. These findings demonstrate that an increased body temperature, associated with and independent of internal biological time, is correlated with improved performance and alertness. These results support the hypothesis that body temperature modulates neurobehavioral function in humans.
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