Photo: BASF Photo: BASF
From Lab to Labour
Results of the Ladenburg Collegium "ClockWORK"
on June 16th 2010
in the DIN (German Institute for Standardization) Building
Whoever wants to hold his own on the job has to be cognitively efficient throughout the working day: Tasks change repeatedly, decisions have to be made, dexterity is required, and many occupations demand a high degree of linguistic competence. But no-one can meet these requirements constantly on a uniformly high level. The research Collegium "ClockWORK" has been studying such performance fluctuations in the course of a 24-hour day since 2005. To this end, biologists and psychologists, physicians and engineers have developed robust testing methods in the laboratory. With little effort, these methods also served to observe the genetically- conditioned "internal clock" and to record the sleep of employees in rotating shift systems.
A test person is being prepared for an experiment in the Charitè's sleep laboratory in Berlin.
Shift workers in "social jet lag"
Our internal clock schedules all of the processes in our bodies, and therefore plays an important role for health and for the quality of life also in daily life. The internal clock is synchronized with the 24-hour day primarily by light - and not by daily social rhythms. For that reason, extreme discrepancies can arise in working life between individually-set internal biological time and external social time. This disparity, the so-called "social jet lag", is especially drastic among shift workers, so that an increasingly greater share of the working population suffers under various health problems, such as sleep disorders.
Shielded from natural light, the diurnal variation of cognitive performance was recorded in the sleep laboratory.
Test of the laboratory results in the working world
The collegium oriented itself on the medical approach "from bench to bedside" according to which disease-oriented basic research influences clinical therapy. Correspondingly, the collegium studied the problem of social jet lag in a "From Lab to Labour" approach, in which it tested the laboratory results of the first phase in field studies in the working world. Their partners in this work were Volkswagen, Siemens, Osram, and the Charité. The methods developed in the laboratory were employed in the second phase in workplaces with rotating shift systems. The scientists will show how all of the results of both phases can be used for planning working hours on June 16th 2010 in Berlin.
The Collegium "ClockWORK" is a sponsorship priority program of the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation. It is intended to contribute to improving the situation of employees in shift work.
Partner
The results of five years of research work will be presented on June 16th 2010 in a final conference of the collegium in the DIN (German Institute for Standardization, registered association) Building in Berlin. The ClockWORK conference takes place subsequent to the 4th DIN-Expert Forum, "The Effects of Light on Human Beings". The international Expert Forum discusses the fundamental principles and possibilities of application in this field on June 15th 2010, on invitation of the Lighting Technology Standards Committee (FNL), in the DIN Building.
Tentative Program
9:30 Inauguration
Welcoming Address
Prof. Rainer Dietrich
Member of the Executive Board
of the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation
Introduction to and Synopsis of
Five Years of the ClockWORK-Collegium
Prof. Till Roenneberg
Institute for Medical Psychology
Ludwig Maximilian-University, Munich
10:30-10:45 Coffee Break
Circadian Rhythmics in Cognitive Processes
Dr. Daniel Bratzke
University of Tuebingen, Psychological Institute
Diurnal Variation of Dexterity
Associate Prof. Dr. Joachim Hermsdoerfer
Development Group Clinical Neuropsychology
Municipal Hospital Bogenhausen, Munich
12:45-14:30 Lunch Break
From 13:30 on, consecutive 10-minute poster presentations of the individual projects in the Foyer
Does Light Make Brighter? Cognitive Performance
in the Laboratory and at the Computer
Prof. Christian Cajochen
Psychiatric University Clinic, Basel
Better to Hear - Circadian Performance Fluctuations
in Speech Processing
Kathrin Pusch
Institute for German Language and Linguistics,
Humboldt University in Berlin
Concluding Remarks
Prof. em. Anna M. Wirz-Justice
Psychiatric University Clinic, Basel
16:00 End
Organization & Registration
June 16th 2010, 9:30-16:00
in the DIN Building, Burggrafenstrasse 6, 10787 Berlin
Registration by eMail (see Contact). Only a limited number of seats is available. There is an identity check on entering the DIN Building. An identity card has to be presented.
In the Hotel "Sylter Hof" opposite the conference venue, a limited contingent of rooms can be booked under the key word "clock".
Tel.: 030-2120-233/-234 | info@sylterhof.de
Contact
Susanne Hallenberger
Gottlieb Daimler- und Karl Benz-Stiftung
Dr. Carl-Benz-Platz 2
Tel.: +49-6203-1092-0 | Fax: +49-6203-1092-5
hallenberger@daimler-benz-stiftung.de
Chair: Prof. Dr. Till Roenneberg
The topic
From single-celled creatures through to plants, animals and human beings, all living things are regulated by an inner clock. The process of adapting to recurrent cycles – the changeover from day to night, summer to winter, rainy season to dry season, high tide to low tide – has, over the course of evolution, triggered the development of inherent chronological structures within the organism itself.
Being genetically determined, the body’s circadian rhythm (i.e. based on a 24-hour cycle), or chronotype, varies from individual to individual – as with other genetically determined characteristics such as hair color or height. We all know someone who is an ‘early bird’ or a ‘night owl’. Some people always seem to be ahead of the day, others always seem to be trailing behind. Both types repeat their own individual daily rhythm every 24 hours. And this rhythm prompts dramatic changes in our body over the course of a day: in fact, there is greater biochemical similarity between two individuals – even two different chronotypes - at the same time of the day than in one individual at two different times in the day twelve hours apart. Apart from genes, the genetically determined chronotype is, however, also influenced by other factors such as how much light we are exposed to and how old we are.
Collegium goals
The Ladenburg Collegium “ClockWORK” will investigate how the inner clock impacts on performance at work. ClockWORK’s main goals are:
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Schedule for the projects' set up. |
Field studies in production units are planned at a later stage of research. With this in mind, the preparatory discourses in 2004 and 2005 were attended by industrial representatives who will be recalled to the project once the field studies commence, if not sooner. They will, of course, be permanently kept up to date about the latest findings in the meantime. An Internet site (www.clock-work.org) run by the Collegium will also guarantee an ongoing exchange of ideas between the five research groups and serve as a platform for PR work.
First-year projects goals
Chronobiological basis I: Shift work, chronotypes and risks
A metastudy to investigate health risks in shift workers, and related costs to the health care system, will be conducted as a part-project. A further part-project will work on adapting the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) for determining chronotype amongst shiftworkers. Once this shiftworker MCTQ has been validated, experimental studies will be carried out (in subsequent years of the project) with a view to drafting guidelines and recommendations aimed at ensuring individuals can be assigned to shift systems with fewer negative impacts.
Prof. Dr. Till Roenneberg, Myriam Juda, Susanne Troppmann, Ildiko Meny (Collegium coordination)
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Institute of Medical Psychology, Department of Chronobiology
Chronobiological basis II: Sleep, Diet, Temperature and Vigilance
This research group will consult with the three groups in Berlin, Tübingen and Munich to work out the best protocols for investigating the influence of circadian rhythm and sleep pressure on language, fine motor skills and executive processes. The questions are: which experiments are best carried out in the researchers’ own laboratory, and which at the “constant routine” laboratory in Basel; where can one use more than one method with the same test subjects and which alternative protocols would it be appropriate to use?
Prof. Dr. Anna Wirz-Justice, Dr. Christian Cajochen, Dr. Kurt Kräuchi
Psychiatric University Clinic of Basel
Circadian Factors in Task Switching
This project will start with a literature research into executive functions and circadian rhythm with a view to compiling and evaluating an overview of the available information. Various task switching and dual task interference designs will also be adapted, piloted and evaluated. This will be followed by a static power analysis. If possible, certain experiments will be conducted together with the working group in Basel.
Prof. Dr. Rolf Ulrich, Dr. Bettina Rolke, Daniel Bratzke
University of Tübingen, Institute of Psychology
Circadian Factors in Language Processing
This project will investigate whether circadian rhythm impacts on human language processing skills (production and reception). Two test experiments were conducted in February and June 2005: the data collected in the second experiment (Quasi Constant Routine - QCR-Berlin 2005) will be evaluated in conjunction with project 3 (Tübingen) and the findings will be documented in writing. The data on the QCR visual memory component will be recorded in the form of a degree dissertation. It is also hoped that other publishable results on language processing can be made public. These findings will provide a basis for determining the goals of the work to be conducted during the first year of the project. In the long term, it is hoped that these studies will provide recommendations about the assignment of workplace and leisure language activities in relation to the time of day. What are the best times of the day for listening, what are the best times of the day for expressing ourselves?
Prof. Dr. Rainer Dietrich, Maren Peters
Humboldt University Berlin, Institute of German Language and Linguistics
Circadian Factors in Motor Control
Literature researches and pre-experiments will deliver hypotheses on rhythm-sensitive and non-sensitive aspects of sensomotoric performance. In conjunction with the other specialist groups these hypotheses will then be tested using appropriate methods. Technical development work will be required to adapt the methods to the use case. An experimental investigation of subjective reports of intensified circadian fluctuations in motor skills is planned on a group of brain-damaged patients.
Dr. Joachim Hermsdorfer, Isabelle Jasper
Municipal Hospital Bogenhausen-Munich, Clinical Neuropsychology Development Group
Ms. Ildiko Meny
Clockwork Project Coordination
Ludwig-Maximilians-University
Institute for Medical Psychology
Goethestr. 31
80336 München
Germany
Tel.+49-89-2180-75-239; Fax: -615
clockwork [at] med.uni-muenchen.de