Abstract
Presence of cold thermal environment represents significant risk factors high latitudes, during winter seasons and in a large number of industrial activities, influencing the cognitive working performance. The aim of this work is to contribute with a systematic review on cognitive working performance in moderate cold thermal environment, by classifying different studies conducted in that area. By using appropriate keywords and searching electronic databases, a systematic review of English articles has been conducted. Only articles related to cognitive working performance in moderate cold thermal environment were included. Nine experimental articles were included. The number of participants varied from 6 to 22 subjects. The findings of this systematic review indicate that moderate cold environment influence the cognitive performance by decreasing working performance, reaction time, executive function and attention and it remain decreased for some time after cold exposure, even when the core and skin temperature get stabilized.
Highlights
Cold thermal environment is present in high latitude environments (Mäkinen 2007), in outdoor during the winter season and indoor present in all seasons (Tochihara 2005)
The aim of this work is to contribute with a systematic review on cognitive working performance in moderate cold thermal environment, by classifying different studies conducted in that area
Full-text articles were excluded if they were not related to cognitive working performance in moderate cold thermal environment; if abstracts didn’t have crucial parts as background, objective, methodology, results, discussion and conclusion; if objectives were not well defined; if the experimental methodology was not enough specified; if conclusions were made without any connection to experiment outcomes
Summary
Cold thermal environment is present in high latitude environments (Mäkinen 2007), in outdoor during the winter season and indoor present in all seasons (Tochihara 2005). Indoor exposure is mostly related to working activities in the fresh food industry with temperatures from 0-10°C and frozen goods at temperatures below -20°C, while cold exposure in outdoor activities is present in occupations such as marine, army, agriculture, forestry, mining, factory work, construction work and related occupations (Mäkinen, Raatikka, et al 2006). Moderate cold impairs performance on tasks of low physical activity and requiring concentration and vigilance. These are for example cognitive performance and postural control. Some positive effects of moderate cold exposure on cognition may occur, reflected as shorter response times and improved accuracy (Mäkinen 2007)
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