Investigating the Neurophysiological Effect of Thermal Environment on Individuals' Performance Using Electroencephalogram

The thermal environment has a great influence on individuals' performance; however, factors such as one's motivation to perform well under experimental conditions cause difficulties in assessing how room temperature affect subjects' performance. One approach to overcome this problem is to understand the changes in individuals' neurophysiological conditions. This paper reports on the results of an experiment where electroencephalogram (EEG) data were collected from 5 subjects while they performed four computerized cognitive tasks. Power spectral density of EEG signals in three different thermal environments, slightly cool, neutral, and slightly warm, was compared within subjects. In most cases, significant differences in PSD of the frontal theta (4-8 Hz) activity are observed, indicating individuals' mental effort varies with room temperature. In the long run, the increased mental workload will reduce individuals' performance and be detrimental to their productivity. The study indicates that the proposed method could be implemented on a larger scale for further studies.