Mood state and human evaluation of the thermal environment using virtual settings

Many complaints about indoor conditions are related to unsatisfactory thermal environments. Most research on thermal comfort (TC) considered physical parameters for settings and users yet marginalized the influence of user's psychological aspects in the process of thermal sensation. Immersive virtual reality (VR) has been used in the built environment to simulate real scenarios. This research examines the effect of mood states on human evaluation of the thermal environment in virtual settings. Forty-four university students from Jordan participated. The experiment followed the 'Experimental Design Method' using thermally controlled chamber and TC evaluation using psychological responses developed by Fanger. The participants completed the PANAS-X pre-mood test before watching a video that targeted eliciting predetermined mood states: anger and happiness. The participants were then immersed in two virtual environments and asked to complete ASHRAE 7-point scale of TC. General Linear model was used to analyse the data. The results revealed a relationship between TC, mood state and quality of the indoor environment. Humans' judgment on TC is a variable mental reaction. The research presents differences between the evaluation of angry and happy people to their thermal environments. This study expands research on the indoor environment quality and develops TC evaluation strategies.