Blue-Enriched Light Enhances Alertness but Impairs Accurate Performance in Evening Chronotypes Driving in the Morning
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Rodríguez Morilla, Beatriz; Madrid, Juan A.; Molina, Enrique; Pérez-Navarro, José; Correa Torres, ÁngelEditorial
Frontiers Media
Materia
Chronotype Time of day Driving Alertness Fatigue Accuracy Neuroergonomics Countermeasures
Fecha
2018-05-15Referencia bibliográfica
Rodríguez-Morilla B, Madrid JA, Molina E, Pérez-Navarro J and Correa Á (2018) Blue-Enriched Light Enhances Alertness but Impairs Accurate Performance in Evening Chronotypes Driving in the Morning. Front. Psychol. 9:688. [https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00688]
Patrocinador
This work was supported by the Spanish and Andalusian Governments to ÁC (MINECO: PSI2014-58041-P, and Proyectos de Excelencia JJAA: SEJ-3054) and to JM (MINECO: SAF2013- 49132-C2-1-R).Resumen
Attention maintenance is highly demanding and typically leads to vigilance decrement
along time on task. Therefore, performance in tasks involving vigilance maintenance for
long periods, such as driving, tends to deteriorate over time. Cognitive performance has
been demonstrated to fluctuate over 24 h of the day (known as circadian oscillations),
thus showing peaks and troughs depending on the time of day (leading to optimal
and suboptimal times of day, respectively). Consequently, vigilance decrements are
more pronounced along time on task when it is performed at suboptimal times of
day. According to research, light exposure (especially blue-enriched white) enhances
alertness. Thus, it has been proposed to prevent the vigilance decrement under
such adverse circumstances. We aimed to explore the effects of blue-enriched white
light (vs. dim light) on the performance of a simulated driving task at a suboptimal
time of day. A group of evening-types was tested at 8 am, as this chronotype had
previously shown their largest vigilance decrement at that time. In the dim light condition,
vigilance decrements were expected on both subjective (as increments in the Karolinska
Sleepiness Scale scores) and behavioral measures [as slower reaction times (RTs) in the
auditory Psychomotor Vigilance Task, slower RTs to unexpected events during driving,
and deteriorated driving accuracy along time on task]. Physiological activation was
expected to decrease (as indexed by an increase of the distal-proximal temperature
gradient, DPG). Under blue-enriched white light, all these trends should be attenuated.
Results from the control dim light condition replicated the vigilance decrement in all
measures. Most important, the blue-enriched white light attenuated this decrement,
leading to both lower DPG and faster RTs. However, it impaired accuracy of driving
performance, and did not have any effect on subjective sleepiness. We conclude
that exposure to blue-enriched light provides an effective countermeasure to enhance
vigilance performance at suboptimal times of day, according to measures such as RTs.
However, it should be considered that alerting effects of light could impair accuracy in
precision tasks as keeping a proper car position. The current findings provide ergonomic
implications for safety and fatigue related management systems.