Die meisten Leute in industrialisierten Ländern verbringen einen grossen Teil ihrer Zeit drinnen und sind künstlichem Licht ausgesetzt. Deshalb ist es wichtig, physiologische und psychologische Wirkungen von Licht zu untersuchen, vor allem im derzeitigen Aufkommen von LEDs. Wir sind daran interessiert, wie Umgebungslicht die Motivation und spezifischer die mentale Anstrengung beeinflusst, und ob Licht den Motivationsdefiziten aufgrund von Ermüdung (mentale Ermüdung oder Ermüdung durch Schlafentzug) entgegenwirken kann. Wir testen die Wirkung von verschiedenen Lichtparametern, wie spektrale Eigenschaften und Lichtstärke. Wir nutzen Methoden aus der kognitiven Psychologie, der kardiovaskulären Physiologie und den Neurowissenschaften.

Aktueller Stand

Abgeschlossene Projekte

• “Influence of lighting on mental effort and on motivational deficit caused by fatigue” 2020-2024 (SNF)
• “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 (Forschungsfonds der Universität Basel)
• “Effects of lighting on listening effort and listening fatigue” 2017-2018 (Biäsch-Stiftung)
• “Lighting and effort-related cardiovascular response” 2016-2018 (SNF)

Mitarbeitende

Ehemalige Praktikantinnen: Alessia Giezendanner, Esther Hazelhoff, Alina Burkart, Sophie Schallberger, Amelie Herweg, Yvonne Hao, Majlinda Maliqi, Fiona Tora, Ana Tavan, Jelena Bubulovic

Kollaborationen

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

Publikationen

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

Veröffentlichte Konferenzbeiträge

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).