Is executive attention affected by environmental lighting conditions?

Bright daylight has various positive influences, such as the long-term synchronization of circadian rhythms and an associated alertness that creates optimal conditions for attentional performance. However, the short-term effects of light on attention have not yet been sufficiently researched. Studies of these short-term effects on selective attention also showed partly contradictory effects. To investigate these short-term effects, 95 participants completed the Attention Network Test, under conditions of bright daylight or warm-white light. The focus of the present study was on executive attention, because this construct comes closest to the ANT short form of selective attention used. A significant enhancement of executive attention was observed under bright daylight conditions. This specifically means a short term effect of bright daylight on executive attention and thus selective attention in young adults.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2025 Wessolowski, Rahim. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)