title: The effect of slightly warm temperature on work performance and comfort in open-plan offices - a laboratory study.
abstract: The aim of the study was to determine the effect of a temperature of 29°C on performance in tasks involving different cognitive demands and to assess the effect on perceived performance, subjective workload, thermal comfort, perceived working conditions, cognitive fatigue, and somatic symptoms in a laboratory with realistic office environment. A comparison was made with a temperature of 23°C. Performance was measured on the basis of six different tasks that reflect different stages of cognitive performance. Thirty-three students participated in the experiment. The exposure time was 3.5 h in both thermal conditions. Performance was negatively affected by slightly warm temperature in the N-back working memory task. Temperature had no effect on performance in other tasks focusing on psychomotor, working memory, attention, or long-term memory capabilities. Temperature had no effect on perceived performance. However, slightly warm temperature caused concentration difficulties. Throat symptoms were found to increase over time at 29°C, but no temporal change was seen at 23°C. No effect of temperature on other symptoms was found. As expected, the differences in thermal comfort were significant. Women perceived a temperature of 23°C colder than men.
authors: Indoor Environment Laboratory, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Maula
authors: Indoor Environment Laboratory, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Hongisto
authors: Indoor Environment Laboratory, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Östman
authors: Indoor Environment Laboratory, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Haapakangas
authors: Indoor Environment Laboratory, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Koskela
authors: Indoor Environment Laboratory, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Hyönä
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D010465:Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D000066477:Work Performance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017132:Workplace
keywords: Cognitive performance; Open-plan office laboratory; Perceived performance; Symptoms; Thermal comfort