Meta-analysis of 35 studies examining the effect of indoor temperature on office work performance

What the study found

The pooled evidence did not support a simple robust universal relationship between temperature and office work performance.

Limitations

Study methods, tasks and temperature ranges were heterogeneous.

Neurodesign interpretation

This is a guardrail for Neurodesign. Temperature-performance stories are seductive, but the pooled literature resists a universal number.

Possible design implications

Design for personal control, task diversity and comfort rather than a single claimed performance optimum.

Why it stays in the corpus

Retain as essential counterevidence to simplistic 'one optimum productivity temperature' claims.

Study design

Meta-analysis

Population

Office-work study participants across 35 studies

Setting

Office and laboratory

Field

Thermal environment

Mechanism

Temperature-performance relationship

Spatial variable

Indoor temperature

Keywords

temperature, performance, meta-analysis, counterevidence