Abstract
Heat exposure and unsuitable lighting are two physical hazardous agents in many workplaces for which there are some evidences regarding their mental effects. The purpose of this study was to assess the combined effect of heat exposure and different lighting levels on the attention rate and reaction time in a climatic chamber. This study was conducted on 33 healthy students (17 M/16 F) with a mean (±SD) age of 22.1 ± 2.3 years. The attention and reaction time test were done by continuous performance test and the RT meter, respectively, in different exposure conditions including the dry temperatures (22°C and 37°C) and lighting levels (200, 500, and 1500 lux). Findings demonstrated that increase in heat and lighting level caused a decrease in average attention percentage and correct responses and increase in commission error, omission error, and response time (P < 0.05). The average of simple, diagnostic, two-color selective, and two-sound selective reaction times increased after combined exposure to heat and lighting (P < 0.05). The results of this study indicated that, in job task which requires using cognitive functions like attention, vigilance, concentration, cautiousness, and reaction time, the work environment must be optimized in terms of heat and lighting level.
Highlights
Heat exposure is one of the health risk factors for many workplaces especially those located in tropical and subtropical areas such as the southern and southwestern areas of Iran [1, 2]
Mean differences of all performance parameters between different lighting levels are statistically significant for both temperatures of 22∘C and 37∘C (P < 0.05)
The results of the present study demonstrated that heat exposure and the simultaneous increase in lighting intensity cause a decrease in individuals’ attention and an increase in their reaction time
Summary
Heat exposure is one of the health risk factors for many workplaces especially those located in tropical and subtropical areas such as the southern and southwestern areas of Iran [1, 2]. Heat stress is a situation where the input heat of human body plus the heat produced in the body exceed the heat emitted from the body to the environment [3, 4]. This situation occurs when the worker is exposed to high humidity and temperature, the existence of thermal radiation sources, physical contact with hot objects, and extreme physical activities for a long period of time [5, 6]. The heat exposure can change individuals’ cognitive performance via cognitive exhaustion, lack of comfortable feeling, and reduction in concentration [3, 7, 8, 10]
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