APPLIED HUMAN SCIENCE

Journal of Physiological Anthropology

The Influence of Different Wavelengths of Light on

Human Biological Rhythms

Takeshi Morita 1) and Hiromi Tokura 2)

1) Technology Institute, Sekisui House, Ltd.

2) Department of Environmental Health, Nara Womens University

Abstract. The purpose of this review was to discuss
the influence of light on humans in the environment,
focusing the relation between the quality of light and
human biological rhythms, and also to apply the results
on lighting planning to a living space which takes into
account human health and comfort. The main discussions
were as follows: 1) The effects of light on the behavior
of core temperature and melatonin vary depending on
its wavelength. Light with long wavelengths, such as
light with a low color temperature and red light, had
little influence on the human biological rhythms. On
the other hand, green and blue light light of mid-short
wavelength such as light with a high color temperature
had a greater influence. 2) From the relation between
the stimulus received by each photoreceptor and the
inhibition of core temperature and melatonin, it might
be concluded that the photoreceptor responsible for
transmitting light information that affects biological
rhythms is M-cones. 3) A higher light intensity was required
in the morning than in the evening to induce the inhibition
of melatonin secretion. This result suggests the possibility
of existence of a diurnal change of sensitivity of the
photoreceptors (M-cones). 4) From all these results, it
is proposed in the field of living environment and living
engineering that light with a low color temperature should
be used for low-level lighting at night, and high-level
light with a high color temperature in the morning.
(Appl Human Sci, 17 (3): 91-96, 1998)
Keywords: core temperature, melatonin, light wavelength,
biological rhythm
Light in the Living Circumstance
The discovery of artificial light has influenced human
life to a great extent. In the past, people recognized the
time from the orbit of the sun. The introduction of a
fixed time system has released people from the natural
light and dark cycle, extending their active hours to the
evening and late night. It has become normal for people
to be awake till late. Moreover, the introduction of shift
workers in security and service industries has created the
24-hour operating city (Yano, 1995). The artificial urban
environment has given rise to timeless and seasonless
offices and underground shopping areas. The general
living environments also tend to be not influenced by
weather changes. Natural light intensity of 100000 lx is
recorded during the daytime on a fine day and at least
more than 10000 lx on a cloudy day. According to the
survey by Inoue and Ohno (1994), the center value of the
light intensity in a living room was 200 lx, ranging from 50
lx to 850 lx at 80% range during the daytime while it was
170 lx, ranging from 70 lx to 330 lx at 80% range during
the nighttime. Kashiwa et al. (1996) reported that the
most frequent light intensity in a living room was 300 lx
during the daytime in the 29 residences where aged
people lived, while it was 200 lx during the nighttime.
The present life style under these light conditions is
greatly different from the natural environment, and
something new during the course of human evolution.
These great differences of lighting conditions from
natural ones might influence human physiology and
health maintenance.
Previous Studies of Lighting in Living Environment
The study has been developed in the field of
architecture and illumination engineering. Visibility
became the first priority for assessment in these fields. It
was summarized as the standard of average light intensity
required for behavior and work. Based on this idea, glare
and brightness were also used in the evaluation of the
index. In the field of living environments, studies on
other roles of light, i.e., comfort have increased
recently. These studies on comfort can be classified
roughly into two sections, i.e., 1) the atmosphere and 2)
the physiological influences. The studies on the
atmosphere include those concerning the effect of light
intensity and color temperature (Krithof, 1941) and of
lighting methods and lighting facilities (Nagamachi et al.,
1985). The physiological influences including those clue
92 The Influence of Different Wavelengths of Light on Human Biological Rhythms
to ultraviolet rays and infrared rays have been long
studied (Banks et al., 1992; Marks and Whiteman, 1994).
Recently, the studies on the influence of visible rays have
been concentrated upon and considered effects on
melatonin (Kller, 1986), CNV (Deguchi and Sato, 1992),
blood pressure (Kobayashi and Sato, 1992), heart rate
variability (Mukae and Sato, 1992), and EEG (Kller and
Wetterberg, 1993).
The purposes of this review are to discuss the
influence of light on humans, focusing on the relation
between the different wavelengths of light and human
biological rhythms, and also to apply the results on
illumination design to a living space which takes into
account human health and comfort.
The Influence of Light on Biological Rhythms
In many cases, time series of various phenomena of
living bodies show cycles or biological rhythms. The
evaluation of lighting in an environment is also probably
affected by biological rhythms. Those with periods of
approximately 1 day are called circadian rhythms.
Typical circadian rhythms are changes of body
temperature, sleep and awakening cycle and hormonal
secretion. Although the original cycle is approximately
25 hours, the circadian rhythm is adjusted to the 24 hours
rotation of the earth by entrainment factors (Zeitgebers)
such as the light-dark and temperature cycles (Wever,
1979).
Humans receive light through their eyes, and process
it as vision to recognize the forms and colors of objects.
First of all, the rods and cones on the retina work as the
photoreceptor. Following processing of this input by the
horizontal, bipolar cell and amacrine cells in the retina, the
information is sent through the optic nerve to the optic
chiasma, the lateral geniculate nucleus and to the visual
cortex. At the same time, an unknown photoreceptor in
the retina receive light information that affects the
biological rhythm. The information is sent to the
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), where the biological clock
is considered to exist, and affects the circadian clock
(Inoue and Kawamura, 1979). The information also
reaches the pineal gland and affects the secretion of
melatonin hormone (Binkley, 1983). The melatonin
receptor exists in the hypothalamus, the central controller
of body temperature. Therefore, the secretory behavior of
melatonin hormone affects the control system of body
temperature, the setpoint, at the hypothalamus (Cagnacci
et al., 1992). Although light had not been supposed to
influence the circadian rhythm (Perlow et al., 1980) for
long time, many studies have reported the relation
between the quantity of light, the time of irradiation and
effects upon the circadian rhythm (Czeisler et al., 1981;
Wever et al., 1983; Honma et al., 1987; Minors et al., 1991)
after Lewy et al. (1980) reported the inhibitory effect on
melatonin of the high intensity of light over 2500 lx in
1980. However, few studies have investigated the effect of
wavelength of light on circadian rhythms.
The Difference in Wavelengths of Light Influences
Biological Rhythms
Light could have profound influences on core
temperature during the nighttime (Dijk et al., 1991; Badia
et al., 1991; Cajochen et al., 1992). There are some
scattered reports that melatonin secretion was inhibited
by exposing humans to monochromatic light at 509 nm
for an hour at various intensities (Brainard et al., 1985),
and that blue-green light inhibited melatonin secretion
in albino rats (Cardinali et al., 1972) and hamsters
(Brainard et al., 1984). However, there are no systematic
studies concerning light effects on core temperature and
melatonin secretion in humans, paying special attention
to the difference in wavelengths of light.
The series of experiments using fluorescent light
(Morita et al., 1995; Morita and Tokura, 1996; Morita et
al., 1997a) showed that even at the same light intensity at
the visibility, light with long wavelengths, such as light
with a low color temperature (3000 K) and red light, had
little influence on human biological rhythms. On the
other hand, light with mid-short wavelength, such as light
with a high color temperature (6500 K) and green and blue
light, had a greater influence. Green or blue light inhibited
the fall of core temperature during its decreasing period
(nighttime), and promoted the increase during its
increasing period (morning). This is because green or blue
light inhibited the increase of melatonin secretion from the
pineal body during nighttime, and promoted the decrease
of that in the morning. These effects were reflected in the
behavior of core temperature.
The Photoreceptor Which Concerns the Human
Biological Rhythm
In the case of humans, the photoreceptors are cones
and rods in the retina. It is still unknown whether the
photoreceptor that influences the suprachiasmatic
nucleus (SCN) is also the cones and rods or another
photoreceptor. The existence of another non-visual
photoreceptor has been confirmed in the case of non-
mammalian vertebrates (Deguchi, 1981). In the case of
mammals, it is known that the light information for
adjusting biological rhythms takes a different route from
the visual pathway (Moore and Klein, 1974). Foster et al.
(1993) reported the possible existence of an unknown
non-visual photoreceptor, because mice which are
genetically deficient in visual function can still maintain
the circadian response toward light. Brainard et al.
(1985) measured the amount of inhibition of human
plasma melatonin with various wavelengths of light, and
 Morita, T and Tokura, H 93

reported that the curve relating wavelength to melatonin calculated by the spectral radiance of experimental light
inhibition was very similar to that of rod sensitivity of E () and the spectral sensitivity of L-, M-, S-cones and
humans. rods S (). But S () varies according to the chromatic
In spite of the similarity between the spectral adaptation and the illuminance adaptation. The stimulus
sensitivity curve of phase-shifting response toward light values of experimental lights were calculated by the
and the sensitivity curve of rods in experiments with equation of chromatic and illuminance adaptation (CIE,
hamsters, Takahashi et al. (1984) suggested the possible 1994) and were shown as relative values to CIE Standard
existence of a photoreceptor for the biological rhythm Illuminant D 65. Thus the effects of lights can be
responses such as cones (or cone-like structures) or an compared with them.
unknown non-visual photoreceptor, as the observed Table 1 (upper) summarized the stimulus values that
threshold to produce a biological effect was very high each cone received and Fig. 1 showed the inhibition of fall
compared with that for vision. They added that this of core temperature and inhibition of melatonin secretion
might also apply to humans. during our experiments using fluorescent lamps (Morita
Each cone (L-, M- and S-cone) and rod received et al., 1995; Morita and Tokura, 1996). The correlation
energy according to the spectral distribution of each light coefficients between the stimulus values and the
and the spectral sensitivity of the photoreceptor. The inhibition of fall of core temperature or the inhibition of
quantity of energy that the photoreceptor receives is melatonin secretion were calculated (Morita et al., 1998)
and summarized on Table 2. For L-cones, as the stimulus
increased, the effects on core temperature and melatonin
Table 1 The stimulus values (dimensionless) that each cone secretion were weaker, which physiological mechanisms
received from the experimental lights (Morita et al., 1995; remain to be studied. For S-cones, there was no relation
Morita and Tokura, 1996; Morita et al., 1997a) between the stimulus and the behavior of core
Photoreceptor temperature and melatonin secretion. However, for M-
L-cone M-cone S-cone
Light 1,000 lx Red 110.29 92.68 62.00
Green 97.09 101.56 60.00
Blue 92.29 103.76 172.78
6,500 K 100.15 99.93 90.88
3,000 K 103.21 98.07 69.90
2,500 lx Red 139.12 117.05 72.06
Green 122.94 128.27 75.82
Blue 116.87 130.98 213.24
These were calculated by the equation (below) of chromatic and
illuminance adaptation (CIE, 1994) and were shown as relative
values to CIE Standard Illuminant D 65.
R2 = (Y0 2 + n) K1/1 (R02) [(R1 + n)/(Y0 1 + n)] 1 (R01)/1 (R02) -n
G2 = (Y0 2 + n) K1/1 (G02) [(G1 + n)/(Y0 1 + n)] 1 (G01)/1 (G02) -n
B2 = (Y0 2 + n) K1/2 (B02) [(B1 + n)/(Y0 1 + n)] 2 (B01)/2 (B02) -n
R 1 , G1 , B 1 ; Fundamental tristimulus values of test sample
(experimental lights).
R 2 , G2 , B 2 ; Fundamental tristimulus values of reference sample.
In this review, these were indicated as relative stimulus
values to CIE Standard Illuminant D 65 which were
received by L-, M-, S-cones.
1, 1, 1 ; Transformed relative chromaticity coordinates of test
illuminant and background.
2, 2, 2 ; Transformed relative chromaticity coordinates of
reference illuminant and background.
1 (R 01), 1 (G 01), 2 (B 01); Exponents of red, green and blue
transformations of test sample.
1 (R 02), 1 (G 02), 2 (B 02); Exponents of red, green and blue
transformations of reference sample.
Y 0; CIE 1931 Y tristimulus value (luminance factor given in %)
of test and reference backgrounds. Fig. 1 Inhibitory effect of fall of core temperature and of melatonin
n; Noise component in fundamental primary system. (n=1 is used) secretion under the influence of various kinds of light (1000
K; Coefficient for correcting the difference between the test and lx) compared with the value for control (50 lx, dim light)
reference illuminances. (K=1.0000 is used) (Morita et al., 1995; Morita and Tokura, 1996).
94 The Influence of Different Wavelengths of Light on Human Biological Rhythms
Table 2 The correlation coefficients between the stimulus
values received by each photoreceptor and the inhibition
of fall of core temperature or the inhibition of melatonin
secretion under the lights of red, green, blue, 6500 K
and 3000 K (Morita et al., 1995; Morita and Tokura, 1996)
The inhibition of The inhibition of
fall of core temperature melatonin secretion
L-cone 0.72 0.79
M-cone 0.73 0.85
S-cone 0.12 0.35
cones, as the stimulus received by the M-cones became
greater so too did the effects on core temperature and
melatonin secretion. It might be concluded that the
photoreceptor responsible for affecting human biological
rhythms is M-cones.
In addition, the influence of M-cones on human
biological rhythms is strongly supported by the result
that, in Deutans who lack M-cones or have a deficiency of
them, light (whether red, green or blue) had no influence
on the behavior of core temperature and melatonin
(Morita et al., 1997b) and their circadian rhythms of core
temperature were different from that of normal sighted
individuals (Rutkowska et al., 1998).
The Fluctuation of Light Sensitivity of the
Biological Rhythms Depended on Time of Day
As is widely known, the effect of light on phase of
biological rhythms varies depending on time of day, and
some studies refer to it as the phase response curve
(Honma and Honma, 1988; Czeisler et al., 1989; Minors et
al., 1991). These studies reported that morning light
causes a phase advance and nocturnal light a phase delay.
However, the reported size of the advance and delay
phases is dissimilar. A possible reason for the differences
might be differences in the presentation of the
experimental light and also differences in light sources
and intensities. Table 1 shows the stimulus that each
photoreceptor received from red, green and blue light
under the conditions of 1000 lx and 2500 lx in our
experiments (Morita et al., 1995; Morita et al., 1997a). As
considered earlier, M-cones are strong candidates for the
photoreceptor that affect human biological rhythms and
received stimuli of 92.68 (red light), 101.56 (green light)
and 103.76 (blue light) when the intensity of each light
was 1000 lx. Under green and blue light (1000 lx), an
inhibition of the fall of core temperature and of the rise of
melatonin was found during the nighttime (Morita et al.,
1995). That is, when M-cones received the stimulus of
approximately 100, this information was transmitted to
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and then to the pineal
body. This caused the inhibition of melatonin secretion
and so led to the inhibition of the fall of core temperature.
In the case of morning irradiation of 1000 lx of red, green
and blue light (Morita et al., 1997a), each photoreceptor,
including M-cones, should receive the same stimulus as in
the nocturnal experiment. However, the inhibition of
core temperature fall and melatonin secretion that was
detected during nighttime was not found in the morning
experiment by 1000 lx. Morning irradiation of 2500 lx of
green (and blue) light showed the same effects on core
temperature and melatonin that were detected by
nocturnal irradiation of 1000 lx of green and blue light
(Morita et al., 1997a). Two thousands five hundred lux of
red light provided a stimulus of 117.05 for M-cones, and
this affected core temperature and melatonin during the
nighttime; however, it was not effective in the morning.
That is, in the morning, a stimulus of 128-130 to M-cones
by green (and blue) light was necessary to influence the
behavior of core temperature and melatonin. It is
suggested that the difference in the quantity of advance
and delay in the phase response curve observed by others
might result from the diurnal change of the sensitivity of
photoreceptor, or from that of cerebral function which
processes the light information. The existence of diurnal,
monthly and seasonal changes of the sensitivity of
photoreceptors has been reported with regard to their
visual function (Sweeney et al., 1960; Osaka et al., 1978;
Watanuki, 1994; Morita et al., 1994). If the photoreceptor
affecting biological rhythms is M-cones, which have the
most important role for vision, then similar fluctuations of
a diurnal, monthly and seasonal changes should also be
recognized in the effects of light on biological rhythms.
Moreover, it might affect the phase of a biological rhythm.
This point needs the further detailed research and
discussion.
A Perspective on the Application of
These Results to Living Environment
It is important to examine the significance of light in
the environment in terms of its effects on human health,
comfort and human biological rhythms. The range of
oscillation in core temperature is strongly coupled with
sleep sensation (Aschoff and Heise, 1972; Avery, 1987).
Therefore, the facts that light during nighttime could
influence core temperature and melatonin should be
stressed also in terms of sleep physiology.
The results of this review suggest that the light with
a low color temperature should be used for low-level
lighting at nighttime, and light with a high color
temperature should be for morning when higher levels of
illumination are required. This idea should be reflected
in future lighting plans. People who have some
restriction on their behavior, such as the aged and
handicapped will need advice about morning as well as
nighttime lighting, and also people in cities who attach
more importance to convenience than to environmental
 Morita, T and Tokura, H
lighting have to consider it. Present results could give
useful suggestions to various kinds of physical and mental
disorder due to discrepancy between phase of biological
rhythm and living life time, i.e., jet lag syndrome by rapid
movement to a certain district with time difference (Klein
et al., 1977), insomnia in night workers (Bryden and
Holdstock, 1973) and seasonal affective disorder
(Rosenthal et al., 1988) which could be regarded as
insufficient synchronization to light-dark cycle due to
lack of light. Furthermore, it should be taken fully into
consideration how light from morning to midday and also
during nighttime should be treated because it is highly
related with the strengthening of range of oscillation in
biological rhythm leading the vitality of everyday life. To
incorporate the results of these studies into living
environment, it will be necessary to examine further the
influence on biological rhythms of repeated and daily
irradiation of light with a particular spectral distribution
and of any effects of chromatic adaptation. And it is
presumed that there exists the non-visual effects of light
because our results have indicated the effect of light on
core temperature and melatonin in humans. As there are
a lot of artificial light and no difference of lightness
between night and day recently, further studies of the
non-visual effects of light are required.
References
Aschoff J, Heise A (1972) Thermal conductance in man:
its dependence on time of day and ambient temperature.
In Itoh S, Ogata K, Yoshimura H eds. Advances in Climatic
Physiology. Springer-Verlag, New York, 334-348
Avery DH (1987) REM sleep and temperature regulation
in affective disorder. In Halaris ed. Chronobiology and
psychiatric disorders. Elsevier, New York, 75-101
Badia P, Myers B, Boecker M, Culpepper J, Harsh JR
(1991) Bright light effects on body temperature,
alertness, EEG and behavior. Physiol Behav 50: 583-
588
Banks BA, Silverman RA, Schwartz RH, Tunnessen WW
(1992) Attitudes of teenagers toward sun exposure
and sunscreen use. Pediatrics 89: 40-42
Binkley SA (1983) Circadian rhythms of pineal function
in rats. Endocr Rev 4: 255-270
Brainard GC, Richardson BA, King TS, Reiter RJ (1984)
The influence of different light spectra on the
suppression of pineal melatonin content in the syrian
hamster. Brain Res 294: 333-339
Brainard GC, Lewy AJ, Menaker M, Fredrickson RH,
Miller LS, Weleber RG, Cassone V, Hudson D (1985)
Effect of light wavelength on the suppression of
nocturnal plasma melatonin in normal volunteers. Ann
NY Acad Sci 453: 376-378
Bryden G, Holdstock TL (1973) Effects of night duty on
sleep patterns of nurses. Psycho-physiology 10: 36-42
95
Cagnacci A, Elliott JA, Yen SSC (1992) Melatonin: A major
regulator of the circadian rhythm of core temperature
in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 75: 447-452
Cajochen C, Dijk D, Borbely AA (1992) Dynamics of EEG
slow-wave activity and core body temperature in human
sleep after exposure to bright light. Sleep 15: 337-343
Cardinali DP, Larin F, Wurtman RJ (1972) Action spectra
for effects of light on hydroxyindole-o-methyltransferases
in rat pineal, retina and harderian gland. Endocrinology
91: 877-886
CIE 109-1994 (1994) A method of predicting corresponding
colors under different chromatic and illuminance
adaptations.
Czeisler CA, Richardson GS, Zimmerman JC, Moore-
Ede MC, Weitzman ED (1981) Entrainment of human
circadian rhythms by light-dark cycles: a reassessment.
Photochem Photobiol 34: 239-247
Czeisler CA, Kronauer RE, Allan JS, Duffy JF, Jewett
ME, Brown N, Ronda JM (1989) Bright light induction
of strong (type 0) resetting of the human circadian
pacemaker. Science 244: 1328-1333
Deguchi T (1981) Rhodopsin-like photosensitivity of
isolated chicken pineal gland. Nature 290: 706-707
Deguchi T, Sato M (1992) The effect of color temperature
of lighting sources on mental activity level. Ann Physiol
Anthrop 11: 37-43
Dijk D, Cajochen C, Borbely AA (1991) Effect of a single
3-hour exposure to bright light on core body temperature
and sleep in humans. Neurosci Lett 121: 59-62
Foster RG, Argamaso S, Coleman S, Colwell CS, Lederman
A, Provencio I (1993) Photoreceptors regulating
circadian behavior. A mouse model. J Biol Rhythms
8: s17-s23
Honma K, Honma S, Wada T (1987) Phase-dependent
shift of free-running human circadian rhythms in
response to a single bright light pulse. Experientia
43: 1205-1207
Honma K, Honma S (1988) A human phase response
curve for bright light pulses. Jap J Psychiat Neurol
42: 167-168
Inoue ST, Kawamura H (1979) Persistence of circadian
rhythmicity in a mammalian hypothalamic island
containing the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Proc Natl Acad
Sci 76: 5962-5966
Inoue Y, Ohno H (1994) Luminous environment of the
house. Architectural Institute of Japan (Kinki): 81-84
Kashiwa T, Iwata T, Kimura K (1996) Investigation of
indoor lighting environment in the houses where aged
people live. Proceedings of 1996 Annual Conference
of the Illuminating Engineering Institute of Japan:
182-183
Klein KE, Herrmann R, Kuklinski P, Wegmann HM (1977)
Circadian performance rhythms: experimental studies
in air operations. In Mackie RR ed. Vigilance, Theory,
Operational Performance, and Physiological Correlates.
96 The Influence of Different Wavelengths of Light on Human Biological Rhythms
NATO Scientific Affairs Division, Plenum Press, New
York, 111-132
Kobayashi H, Sato M (1992) Physiological responses
to illuminance and color temperature of lighting. Ann
Physiol Anthrop 11: 45-49
Krithof AA (1941) Tubular luminescence lamps for
general illumination. Philips Technical Review 3: 65-
96
Kller R (1986) Physiological and psychological effects
of illumination and colour in the interior environment.
J Light & Vis Env 10: 33-37
Kller R, Wetterberg L (1993) Melatonin, cortisol, EEG,
ECG and subjective comfort in healthy humans: Impact
of two fluorescent lamp types at two light intensities.
Lighting Res Technol 25: 71-81
Lewy AJ, Wehr TA, Goodwin FK, Newsome DA, Markey
SP (1980) Light suppresses melatonin secretion in
humans. Science 210: 1267-1269
Marks R, Whiteman D (1994) Sunburn and melatonin:
how strong is the evidence? Br Med J 308: 75-76
Minors DS, Waterhouse JM, Wirz-Justice A (1991) A
human phase-response curve to light. Neuroscience
Letters 133: 36-40
Moore RY, Klein DC (1974) Visual pathways and the
central neutral control of a circadian rhythm in pineal
serotonin N-acetyltransferase activity. Brain Res 71:
17-33
Morita T, Ohyama M, Tokura H (1994) Diurnal variation
of hue discriminatory capability under artificial constant
illumination. Experientia 50: 641-643
Morita T, Teramoto Y, Tokura H (1995) Inhibitory effect
of light of different wavelengths on the fall of core
temperature during the nighttime. Jpn J Physiol 45:
667-671
Morita T, Tokura H (1996) Effects of lights of different
color temperature on the nocturnal changes in core
temperature and melatonin in humans. Appl Human
Sci 15 (5): 243-246
Morita T, Tokura H, Wakamura T, Park SJ, Teramoto Y
(1997a) Effects of the morning irradiation of light
with different wavelengths on the behavior of core
temperature and melatonin in humans. Appl Human
Sci 16 (3): 103-105
Morita T, Rutkowska D, Ohyama M, Tokura H (1997b)
Absence of an effect of light of different wavelengths
on the nocturnal fall of core temperature and rise of
melatonin secretion in color-deficient subjects.
Biological Rhythm Research 28: 104-110
Morita T, Teramoto Y, Tokura H (1998) Inhibitory effect
of light of different wavelengths on the behavior of
core temperature and melatonin during the nighttime
in humans. Biological clocks. Mechanisms and
applications. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 345-348
Mukae H, Sato M (1992) The effect of color temperature
of lighting sources on the autonomic nervous functions.
Ann Physiol Anthrop 11: 533-538
Nagamachi M, Ito K, Fukuba Y, Tsuji T, Tabuchi Y, Irieda
T (1985) A study of emotional technology on room
illumination. Jpn J Ergonomics 21 (5): 265-272
Osaka N, Cohen JD, Akita M, Ejima Y (1978) Long-term
drifts in individual observers unique-hue spectral loci.
Jap Psychol Res 20: 183-186
Perlow MJ, Reppert SM, Tamarkin L, Wyatt RJ, Klein
DC (1980) Photic regulation of the melatonin rhythm:
monkey and man are not the same. Brain Res 182:
211-216
Rosenthal NE, Blehar MC, Daan S (1988) Seasonal
affective disorder: mechanisms, treatments and models.
J Biol Rhythms 3: 97-223
Rutkowska D, Morita T, Tokura H (1998) Deviations
in circadian rhythm of the core temperature in color-
deficient subjects. Naturwissenschaften 85: 130-132
Sweeney EJ, Kinney JS, Ryan A (1960) Seasonal changes
in scotopic sensitivity. J Opt Soc Am 50 (3): 237-240
Takahashi JS, DeCoursey PJ, Bauman L, Menaker M
(1984) Spectral sensitivity of a novel photoreceptive
system mediating entrainment of mammalian circadian
rhythms. Nature 308: 186-188
Watanuki S (1994) Effects of body temperature decrease
on color sensation. Ann Physiol Anthrop 13 (1): 41-
47
Wever RA (1979) The Circadian System of Man. Results
of Experiments under Temporalisolation. Springer-
Verlag, New York.
Wever RA, Polasek J, Wildgruber CM (1983) Bright light
affects human circadian rhythms. Pflugers Arch 396:
85-87
Yano M (1995) Sociology of Time Budgets: Social Time,
Personal Time. University of Tokyo Press.
Received: December 18, 1997
Accepted: February 17, 1998
Correspondence to: Takeshi Morita, Technology Institute,
Sekisui House, Ltd., 6-6-1 Kabutodai, Kizu, Kyoto 619-
0224, Japan