| Summary: | Indoor climate
interventions are often motivated from a worker comfort and productivity
perspective. However, the relationship between indoor climate and human
performance remains unclear. We assess the effect of indoor climate factors on
human performance, focusing on the impact of indoor temperature on decision
processes. Specifically, we expect heat to negatively influence higher
cognitive rational processes, forcing people to rely more on intuitive
shortcuts. In a laboratory setting, participants (N=257) were exposed to a
controlled physical environment with either a hot temperature (28° C) or a
neutral temperature (22° C) over a two-hour period, in which a battery of
validated tests were conducted. We find that heat exposure did not lead to a
difference in decision quality. We did find evidence for a strong gender
difference in self-report, such that only men expect that high temperature
leads to a significant decline in performance, which does in fact not
materialize. These results cast doubt on the validity of self-report as a proxy
for performance under different indoor climate conditions.
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