Positive effects of blue light on executive functions: future implications for air traffic controllers

Recent studies showed the non-visual effects of blue light exposure on human physiology and psychology, highlighting positive effects on circadian rhythms, alert, vigilance and also on cognitive processes and mood regulation; however, few works investigated the effects of blue light exposure on executive functions. The inhibitory processes, specifc aspects of the executive functions, have relevance in daily life and may be crucial for jobs like air-traffc control. We investigated the effects of new LED sources, rich in blue spectrum, in a real environment in which light setting has been carefully projected. Forty four College students performed a Switching Task, in which inhibitory processes and switch cost were measured. Results suggest that blue light ex- posure improves the cognitive system's capacity to deal with multiple task representations, which might remain active simultaneously without interfering with each oth- er. The results of the present study could have some possible implications for air-traffc controllers who are shift workers, and in particular of their capability to deal with multiple tasks without cost-effectiveness.