The Mental Performance of Subjects Clothed for Comfort at Two Different Air Temperatures

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Abstract
Thirty-two subjects (16 male and 10 female students aged (8-25 yr) performed sedentary work in a climate chamber under two different conditions. The subject wore a light standard clothing (0.6 clo) on one occasion and a heavy clothing ensemble (1.5 clo) on the other. Each subject was exposed singly, for 2-5 hr on each occasion. During the exposures the air temperature was continuously adjusted up or down at the subject's request, as indicated on a dial voting apparatus, so that he remained in thermal comfort. Skin temperatures were measured throughout. Performance measures were obtained on a numerical addition task, a recognition memory task, and on a test of cue-utilization. Subjects rated their effort, arousal and fatigue, and the freshness of the air on semantic differential scales. No significant differences in performance could be shown between the two conditions. Subjective effort, arousal and fatigue did not differ, but subjects considered that the air was fresher in the cool air/heavy clothing condition. Skin temperatures were significantly loss uniform over the body surface in this condition, although the average skin temperature was the same under both conditions, Male subjects maintained a significantly higher mean skin temperature and a significantly higher evaporative weight loss under bath clothing conditions than did female subjects, However, there were no significant differences between the air temperatures preferred by male and female subjects. The average preferred air temperature was 23-2° and 18.7°C for 0.6 and 1.15 clo, respectively,

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