LIGHTCAP: Light, Cognition, Attention, Perception

ended

Cognition, Attention and Perception (CAP) are crucial for professional success, core to educational success, essential to productive, safe and healthy functioning. Yet cognition is hard work, attention is fragile, and perception is selective. Recent research has shown that light directly and indirectly helps CAP, in particular via the activation of a recently discovered photoreceptor in the human eye. Light triggers this photoreceptor, but large-scale migration to cities, increased time spent indoors, and our 24-hour economy have impacted on our light exposure. Disturbance of sleep/wake cycles, fatigue and cognitive failure, mood disorders and even cancer pathologies may be the consequences of ignoring findings on human light processing. The urgent message is that light can make or break health, social and cognitive functioning. Given the rapid technological developments in light sources (LED, OLED) and the proliferation of intelligent infrastructures (IOT, data science), we are in a crucial period for the realization of truly human-centered lighting. LIGHTCAP aims to address this challenge by providing a strong, innovative and necessary impulse to our insight in the intricate and complex relationship between light, perception, attention and cognition. The goal of LIGHTCAP is to prepare the next generation of experts able to deliver on the promise of truly intelligent, human-centric lighting. We promise an international, interdisciplinary, cross-sectional and translational training program. It unites experts from neurobiology, cognitive neuroscience, chronobiology, psychology and lighting technology. It will train a generation of researchers who can look beyond the borders of their discipline and understand the implications of their findings for other fields.