Indoor temperature and office work performance in a temperate climate

What the study found

Seventy-five adults did office-type cognitive tests at four air temperatures from 21 to 27 °C. Performance did not differ significantly across temperatures on the main test (p = 0.11) or on any PEBL domain, though equivalence tests could not rule out a small effect. Thermal comfort and physiology did shift: preference sat at 23 to 25 °C, 64% wanted cooler air at 27 °C, and RMSSD fell from 45 to 34 ms.

Limitations

One session per temperature with young, healthy people doing structured tasks; a larger effect in top performers came from a post hoc subgroup of about 18 people and is exploratory.

Neurodesign interpretation

Within normal office ranges, temperature may matter more for comfort and physiological load than for short-term task output, which supports wider setpoint bands but not ignoring comfort.

Possible design implications

Hypothesis: within 21 to 27 °C, setpoint choices may be judged more on comfort and physiological load than on task output; a small performance effect is not ruled out.

Study design

Controlled exposure study (within-subject, climate chamber)

Population

Young healthy adults (mean age 26), Berkeley, USA. Sample: 75 (84 recruited).

Setting

Climate chamber set up as a small office (UC Berkeley); four 165-minute sessions at 21, 23, 25 and 27 °C, counterbalanced

Field

Thermal environment, Workplace design

Mechanism

Temperature-performance, Arousal + activation

Spatial variable

Air temperature

Keywords

air temperature, temperature-performance, arousal + activation

Notes and follow-up

Related records: ND-0007, ND-0008, ND-0009, ND-0010, ND-0011, ND-0096.