Daily variation of visual sensitivity to luminance contrast: Effects of time of measurement and circadian typology

• Published in: Chronobiology international 2018-07, Vol.35 (7), p.996-1007
• Main Authors: Andrade, Michael Jackson Oliveira de, Neto, Armindo Campos, Oliveira, Ana Raquel de, Santana, Jessica Bruna, Santos, Natanael Antonio Dos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Circadian Rhythm - physiology; Humans; Male; Psychophysics - methods; Sleep - physiology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Time Factors; Visual Perception - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0742-0528; 1525-6073
• DOI: 10.1080/07420528.2018.1450753

This study analyzed the fluctuation of the achromatic visual contrast sensitivity (CS) of adult males (M = 23.42 ± 2.6 years) during a daily period. Twenty-eight volunteers were divided into three groups according to circadian typology (CT): moderate morning (MM; n = 8); intermediate (I; n = 10) and moderate evening (ME; n = 10). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to evaluate sleep quality, and the Horne and Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire was used to measure CT. To measure CS, we used Metropsis software version 11.0 with vertical sinusoidal grids of 0.2, 0.6, 1, 3.1, 6.1, 8.8, 13.2 and 15.6 cycles per degree of visual angle (cpd). The stimuli were presented on a cathode ray tube (CRT) color video monitor with a 19-inch flat screen, a 1024 × 786 pixel resolution, a 100 Hz refresh rate and a photopic luminance of 39.6 cd/m . It was inferred that there is a tendency for visual contrast to vary according to daily rhythmicity and CT, mainly for the median spatial frequencies (1.0 cpd, χ  = 9.93, p