Light modulates task-dependent thalamo-cortical connectivity during an auditory attentional task.

[en] Exposure to blue wavelength light stimulates alertness and performance by modulating a widespread set of task-dependent cortical and subcortical areas. How light affects the crosstalk between brain areas to trigger this stimulating effect is not established. Here we record the brain activity of 19 healthy young participants (24.05±2.63; 12 women) while they complete an auditory attentional task in darkness or under an active (blue-enriched) or a control (orange) light, in an ultra-high-field 7 Tesla MRI scanner. We test if light modulates the effective connectivity between an area of the posterior associative thalamus, encompassing the pulvinar, and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), key areas in the regulation of attention. We find that only the blue-enriched light strengthens the connection from the posterior thalamus to the IPS. To the best of our knowledge, our results provide the first empirical data supporting that blue wavelength light affects ongoing non-visual cognitive activity by modulating task-dependent information flow from subcortical to cortical areas.

Disciplines :

Neurosciences & behavior

Author, co-author :

Paparella, Ilenia ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging - Sleep and chronobiology

Campbell, Islay ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA

Sharifpour, Roya ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques

Beckers, Elise ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA ; Alzheimer Centre Limburg, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6229 ET, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Berger, Alexandre ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging - Sleep and chronobiology ; Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), 1200, Brussels, Belgium ; Synergia Medical SA, 1435, Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium

Aizpurua, Jose Fermin Balda; GIGA-Cyclotron Research Centre-In Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, 4000, Liège, Belgium

Koshmanova, Ekaterina ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques

Mortazavi, Nasrin ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA

Talwar, Puneet ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging - Sleep and chronobiology

Degueldre, Christian ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging - Aging & Memory

More authors (5 more)

Language :

English

Title :

Light modulates task-dependent thalamo-cortical connectivity during an auditory attentional task.

Publication date :

16 September 2023

Journal title :

Communications Biology

eISSN :

2399-3642

Publisher :

Nature Research, England

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

945

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-05337-5.pdf

Funders :

ERDF - European Regional Development Fund [BE]
Siemens Healthineers [DE]

Funding text :

We thank Paolo Cardone for valuable discussions and Annick Claes, Christian Degueldre, Catherine Hagelstein, Brigitte Herbillon, Patrick Hawotte, Erik Lambot, Benjamin Lauricella, André Luxen for their help over the different steps of the study. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860613 (LIGHTCAP project). This study was also supported by the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS; CDR J.0222.20), the Fondation Léon Frédéricq, ULiège—U. Maastricht Imaging Valley, ULiège-Valeo Innovation Chair “Health and Well-Being in Transport” and Sanfran (LIGHT-CABIN project), the European Regional Development Fund (Biomed-hub), and Siemens Healthineers. None of these funding sources had any impact on the design of the study nor on the interpretation of the findings. L.L. is supported by the EU Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) (SCAIFIELD project—FNRS reference: PINT-MULTI R.8006.20). I.C., C.P., and G.V. are supported by the FNRS. I.P. is supported by the FNRS and the GIGA Doctoral School for Health Sciences of ULiège.

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