Neuroscientists reveal intriguing impact of light on human cognition and brain activity
Recent research has shed light on how different levels of illuminance—the measure of the amount of light—can enhance alertness and cognitive performance in humans. The study found that higher light levels affect specific areas of the brain region known as the hypothalamus, enhancing certain cognitive functions during tasks that involve executive and emotional processing. The findings were published in the journal eLife . The primary motivation behind the study was to understand how varying intensities of light impact the human brain, particularly the hypothalamus, which plays a crucial role in regulating sleep, wakefulness, and cognitive functions. Light exposure is known to affect these areas in animal brains, but the specifics of these effects in humans remained unclear. Animal models have shown that certain brain regions respond to light in ways that affect behavior, but humans have different physiological and neurological complexities. For example, the human cortex matures la...