The effect of repeated exposure to bright light at the same time of the night on salivary melatonin in humans.
Item
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Title
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The effect of repeated exposure to bright light at the same time of the night on salivary melatonin in humans.
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Identifier
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AAI3214531
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identifier
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3214531
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Creator
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Dubrovsky, Boris.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Arthur J. Spielman
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Date
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2006
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Physiological | Psychology, Behavioral | Psychology, Experimental
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Abstract
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Conditioning of salivary melatonin suppression by light was attempted in 15 healthy male and female undergraduates. Enhancement of melatonin suppression (CR) after repeated exposure to bright light at the same time of night was expected to occur due to the learned association between the time of exposure (CS) and light (US). On 10 training nights, 45 min of bright light (experimental group, n=8) or 45 min of dim light (control group, n=7) were presented 2 hr past bedtime. Before and after training, all subjects collected multiple melatonin samples under conditions of 45 min of bright light and, separately, 4.5 min of bright light presented 2 hr past bedtime. Melatonin was suppressed by 45 min of bright light, F (2, 32) = 18.3, p < .0005, but there was no difference between groups on either pretest or posttest. Neither group evidenced melatonin suppression by 4.5 min of bright light on pretest or posttest. Thus, the effect of conditioning on the posttest melatonin values was absent in the experimental group. While future studies measuring circadian phase shift may help clarify the possibility of conditioning of the human circadian system's response to light, the present results suggest that the usefulness of conditioning in the bright light treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders may be limited at best.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
