Short-term exposure to indoor carbon dioxide and cognitive task performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis

What the study found

Short-term CO2 exposures below 5000 ppm were associated with cognitive effects in the pooled literature, with complex tasks appearing more sensitive.

Limitations

CO2 can be both an exposure and a ventilation proxy; protocols and task batteries differ substantially.

Neurodesign interpretation

The design story is not 'CO2 makes people stupid.' It is that stale occupied rooms can become cognitively expensive, and complex work may reveal the cost first.

Possible design implications

Use CO2 as an operational signal for occupancy and ventilation, while avoiding claims that one universal ppm value is a direct brain threshold.

Why it stays in the corpus

Retain as the principal synthesis for CO2 and cognition.

Study design

Systematic review and meta-analysis; 15 eligible studies

Population

Healthy human participants

Setting

Controlled indoor exposures

Field

Indoor air quality

Mechanism

CO2 exposure, cognitive performance

Spatial variable

Ventilation, indoor CO2

Keywords

CO2, ventilation, cognition, air quality