Grzywacz’s research confirms the negative repercussions of stressors in workplaces. He found that cognitive function and memory are degraded in offices with more physical hazards. Environmental hazards/stressors were broadly defined and studied using two sets of measures: “The first set of items assessed the frequency of exposure to hazardous conditions, the likelihood of injury as well as the degree of injury resulting from the exposure, if an injury occurred…The second set of items assessed exposure to environmental conditions. The list of environmental conditions included exposure to uncomfortable or distracting levels of sounds or noises; very hot or cold temperatures; extremely bright or inadequate lighting; exposure to contaminants; cramped workspace; and exposure to whole body vibrations.”
Joseph Grzywacz, Dikla Segal-Karpas, and Margie Lachman. 2016. “Workplace Exposures and Cognitive Function During Adulthood: Evidence from National Survey of Midlife Development and the O*NET.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol. 58, no. 6, pp. 535-541.
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.