The Influence of Heat Upon Intellectual Test Performance and Cardiac Activity of Three Groups in the Negev Desert

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Abstract
This study was conducted to determine if exposure to heat at 45 deg;C, influences mental test performance and heart rates of different ethnic groups living in the same area of a semi‐desert zone. Forty‐eight adolescent highschool boys of Israeli nationality (but whose fathers were of Bedouin, Moroccan or Eastern European background) were paid for their participation. Each of the boys was individually tested under control or heat conditions by an experimenter from the same ethnic background on a Raven 38 and WISC Coding B task. Mental test performances were unaffected by either one or two hours of heat although heart rates increased. More basic than heat was ethnic membership and test scores corresponded more to assumed experience with tests than to any other factor. Heart rate patterns were also different between the 3 groups suggesting fundamental physiological divergence.