Most people in industrialized countries spend a large part of their life indoors and are exposed to artificial lighting. Thus, it is crucial to investigate physiological and psychological influences of artificial lighting, particularly in the current advent of new technologies for light emitting diodes. We are interested in how ambient lighting can affect motivation and more specifically mental effort, and whether light can counteract motivational deficits caused by fatigue (mental fatigue or fatigue due to sleep restriction). We are testing impact of different lighting parameters, like spectral properties and illuminance levels. We employ methods from cognitive psychology, cardiovascular physiology, and neuroscience.

Current state

Completed projects

• “Influence of lighting on mental effort and on motivational deficit caused by fatigue” 2020-2024 (SNSF)
• “Neurovascular and cardiovascular responses to a cognitive challenge under different ambient lighting conditions” 2019-2020 (EMBO)
• “Light level and effort-related cardiovascular response” 2018-2019 (Research Fund by the University of Basel)
• “Effects of lighting on listening effort and listening fatigue” 2017-2018 (Biäsch-Stiftung)
• “Lighting and effort-related cardiovascular response” 2016-2018 (SNSF)

People

Former interns: Alessia Giezendanner, Esther Hazelhoff, Alina Burkart, Sophie Schallberger, Amelie Herweg, Yvonne Hao, Majlinda Mailiqi, Fiona Tora, Ana Tavan, Jelena Bubulovic

Collaboration

Dr. Michael Richter, Liverpool John Moores University, UK The Effort Lab

Prof. Rex A. Wright, University of North Texas, USA Wright Research Lab

Dr. Christopher Mlynski, University of Vienna, Austria

Publications

Papers

Wüst, L. N., Cajochen, C., & Lasauskaite, R. (2025). No association between chronotype and cardiovascular response to a cognitive challenge in the morning using a Bayesian approach. Neurobiology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms, 100125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbscr.2025.100125

Lasauskaite, R., Wüst, L. N., Schöllhorn, I., Richter, M., & Cajochen, C. (2025). Non-image-forming effects of daytime electric light exposure in humans: A systematic review and meta-analyses of physiological, cognitive, and subjective outcomes. LEUKOS. https://doi.org/10.1080/15502724.2025.2493669

Wüst, L. N, Lasauskaite, R. (2024). Effects of sleep restriction and light intensity on mental effort during cognitive challenge. International Journal of Psychophysiology. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112461

Wüst, L. N, Capdevila, N. C., Lane, L. T., Reichert, C. F., Lasauskaite, R. (2024). Impact of one night of sleep restriction on sleepiness and cognitive function: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2024.101940

Lasauskaite, R., Richter, M., Cajochen, C. (2023). Lighting color temperature impacts effort-related cardiovascular response to an auditory short-term memory task. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 87. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101976

Lasauskaite, R., Hazelhoff, E. M., Cajochen, C. (2019). Four minutes might not be enough for color temperature of light to affect subjective sleepiness, mental effort, and light ratings. Lighting Research & Technology, 51, 1128-1138. doi:10.1177/1477153518796700

Lasauskaite, R., Cajochen, C. (2018). Influence of lighting color temperature on effort-related cardiac response. Biological Psychology, 132, 64-70. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.11.005

Published conference contributions

Wüst, L. N., Cajochen, C., Lasauskaite, R. (2024) Subjective sleepiness better predicts effort-related cardiovascular response than sleep duration per se. Sleep Medicine (Vol. 115, Supplement 1, p. 41-42). doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2023.11.152

Wüst, L. N., Capdevila, N., Lane, L. T., Reichert, C. F., Lasauskaite, R. (2024) One night of sleep restriction influences subjective sleepiness and objective alertness: a meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine (Vol. 115, Supplement 1, p. 119). doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2023.11.350

Wüst, L. N., Cajochen, C., & Lasauskaite, R. (2023). Impact of sleep duration, light intensity, and alertness on effort-related cardiovascular response during cognitive performance. International Journal of Psychophysiology (Vol. 188, p. 30).

Lasauskaite, R., Richter, M., & Cajochen, C. (2023). Ambient lighting and effort-related cardiovascular response. International Journal of Psychophysiology (Vol. 188, p. 21).

Wüst, L. N., Cajochen, C. & Lasauskaite, R. (2022, September). Effects of sleeprestriction and light intensity on effort-related cardiovascular response during cognitive challenge. In Journal of Sleep Research (Vol. 31).

Lasauskaite, R., & Cajochen, C. (2018, September). Subjective sleepiness and waketime are related to light perception. In Journal of Sleep Research (Vol. 27).

Lasauskaite, R., Richter, M., & Cajochen, C. (2016, January). Effects of lighting color temperature on effort intensity for cognitive and listening tasks. In Neuropsychobiology (Vol. 74, No. 4, pp. 243-244).

Lasauskaite, R., Richter, M., & Cajochen, C. (2017, December). Color temperature of light and effort-related cardiac response: Effecs for cognitive and listening tasks. In Psychophysiology (Vol. 54, pp. S130-S130).