Research Design Connection: Comparing Responses to Daylight and Electric Light

Borisuit and colleagues investigated people’s responses to daylight and electric light in an area very similar to a contemporary office environment. They found “significantly higher visual acceptance scores under DL [daylight] [it was liked more and felt to be more comfortable] than EL [electric light] conditions, despite the lack of a direct outside view. Subjective [perceived] glare was lower under DL than under EL condition. While subjective alertness and physical wellbeing decreased for both lighting conditions in the course of the afternoon, subjects felt sleepy earlier under EL than DL. Physical wellbeing [was felt to] become worse in the course of the afternoon only under EL.” The researchers report that their data suggest “a greater tolerance for glare under daylight.” The electric lighting was produced by “eight polychromatic white light luminaires, mounted on the ceiling (58 W, fluorescent tube, 4000 K).

A. Borisuit, F. Linhart, J-L. Scartezzini, and M. Munch. 2015. “Effects of Realistic Office Daylighting and Electric Lighting Conditions on Visual Comfort, Alertness and Mood.” Lighting Research and Technology, vol. 47, pp. 192-209.

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.