Cognitive Work Performance Research Articles

Effects of wind-induced vibrations in tall buildings on cognitive work performance, comfort, and wellbeing of the occupants

Effects of wind-induced vibrations in tall buildings on cognitive work performance, comfort, and wellbeing of the occupants

Effect of Ramadan Intermittent Fasting on Cognitive Work Performance

Effect of Ramadan Intermittent Fasting on Cognitive Work Performance

Effects of acoustic environment on design work performance based on multitask visual cognitive performance in office space

The acoustic environment in the office space is a significant factor affecting workers' performance. Whereas existing research focuses mainly on the impact of the acoustic environment on single visual cognitive work performance, this study considers multitask visual cognitive work. Forty-one respondents were selected to participate in the multitask visual cognitive–behavioural cognitive experiment under different acoustic environments. The effects of different typical sound source types, sound pressure levels, and reverberation times on the performance of multitask visual cognition in design offices were examined. The results revealed the following. First, the sound source types have a significant impact on the reaction time of participants' work performance. Compared to the ambient environment (mean = 2.838 s), the reaction time performance is shortest under music sound (mean = 2.560 s). Second, the increase in traffic noise and air-conditioning noise will significantly reduce the memory accuracy of the location. For instance, when the traffic noise increases from 50 dBA to 65 dBA, the memory accuracy of the location is reduced by 4.42%. Third, the increase in the reverberation of speech will effectively shorten the reaction time and increase the memory accuracy of graphics. As the reverberation time of speech increases from 0.3 s to 1.5 s, the reaction time is reduced by 0.274 s. Meanwhile, 2.03% of the memory accuracy of graphics increased. Furthermore, the personal characteristics of the participants also affected visual cognitive work. Therefore, it is expected to improve the visual cognitive work performance of employees for room acoustic design.

Effects of air temperature on cognitive work performance of acclimatized people in severely cold region in China

The study aimed to assess the effect of indoor air temperature on cognitive work performance of acclimatized people during the middle of heating season in severely cold region in China. How does temperature affect work performance was also investigated through subjective surveys. Eighteen acclimatized and healthy participants (10 males and 8 females) carried out tasks in a climate chamber under six temperatures (18°C, 20°C, 22°C, 24°C, 26°C and 28°C). They completed 11 neuro-behavioural tests, including perception, learning and memory, thinking, expression and executive function tests, and subjective surveys on thermal sensation, emotion, health, workload and enthusiasm. Results showed that temperature has an effect on the variation on the neuro-behavioural performance depending on task types and difficulties. Temperature could influence the response time significantly more than accuracy when tasks were performed without feedback. Under adverse environment, people would feel (slightly) cool or warm, feel less enthusiastic to work, and would have more negative emotions, perceived sick building syndrome to be more serious and would have evaluated performance as worse. They would also perform badly on neuro-behavioural tests. Subjective surveys were important supplements to objective evaluation on the effect of indoor environment factors on work performance.