A Comparative Study of Tropical Students’ Thermal Comfort and Cognitive Performance in Elevated Air Temperature and Air Velocity Environments

Abstract

Group differences in thermal comfort have been widely observed in previous studies. Understanding these disparities is crucial for creating comfortable and conducive thermal environments for diverse population groups. This study investigated the thermal perceptions, physiological responses, and cognitive performances of secondary school and university students in Elevated Air Temperature and Velocity (EATAV) settings in tropical Singapore. Through chamber experiments involving university students and field studies in classroom environments with secondary school students, a comprehensive comparative analysis was conducted. Results revealed significant distinctions between secondary school and university students. Secondary school students perceived warm thermal conditions less intensely and had 0.6 °C higher neutral Standard Effective Temperature (SET*) compared to the university students, indicating their better thermal resilience to the EATAV environments. Physiologically, secondary school students exhibit higher value of arm skin temperature, wrist skin temperature, and heart rate across all the SET*s and thermal sensations. In terms of cognitive performance, it was observed that warm sensations negatively impacted cognitive performance test scores for both groups, with secondary school students experiencing a more pronounced effect compared to university students. Interestingly, cool sensations did not significantly affect cognitive performance for either group. These findings emphasize the necessity of considering demographic differences when designing EATAV environments to ensure comfort and productivity across diverse populations, particularly in educational settings.

Keywords: Thermal Comfort, physiological response, cognitive performance, group difference, elevated air temperature and air velocity, tropics