Students’ thermal comfort and cognitive performance in tropical climates: A comparative study

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 teenage secondary school and adult university students in Elevated Air Temperature and Velocity (EATAV) settings in tropical Singapore. A comprehensive comparative analysis was conducted through experiments with university students in a mixed-mode ventilation university classroom and field studies with secondary school students in fan-assisted naturally ventilated classroom environments. Results revealed significant distinctions between secondary school and university students. Secondary school students perceived warm thermal conditions less intensely and had 1.2 °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 (17 % reduction) compared to university students (10 % reduction). 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.