Research Design Connection: Air Quality and Cognition

 

Allen and his colleagues confirmed the importance of ventilation in indoor spaces and also linked relatively common indoor air conditions to decreased cognitive performance. In the course of their study, “Twenty-four (24) participants spent six full work days (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.) in an environmentally controlled office space, [unaware of what the scientists were investigating]. On different days, they were exposed to IEQ conditions representative of Conventional (high volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration) and Green (low VOC concentration) office buildings in the U.S. Additional conditions simulated a Green building with a high outdoor air ventilation rate (labeled Green+).” Allen and team found that, “On average, cognitive scores were 61% higher on the Green building day and 101% higher on the two Green+ building days than on the Conventional building day.” These findings are particularly important because the researchers “found statistically significant declines in cognitive function scores when [carbon dioxide] concentrations were increased to levels that are common in indoor spaces (approximately 950 ppm).”

Joseph Allen, Piers MacNaughton Usha Satish, Suresh Santanam, Jose Vallarino, and John Spengler. “Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments.” Environmental Health Perspectives, in press.

Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.