The Effect of Indoor Thermal Comfort on Visual Search Task Performances in a Personal Learning Environment

Abstract

Abstract:This study examined the effect of perceived indoor thermal comfort of a personal learning environment on students' performances of the visual search task. To do this, 11 participants who attended a high school completed the scale of indoor thermal comfort in the simulated learning environment and they performed the visual search task which reflects selective attention. As a result, there was a strong negative correlation between indoor thermal comfort and visual search task performance regardless of task difficulty. This was different from the common sense view that comfortable environments improve occupant's performances. While this result could have been affected by students' arousal level or perceived sensitivity to the environments, these variables didn't appear to significantly influence the inverse relationship between indoor thermal comfort and visual search task performance. These findings could potentially be used to shape an optimal thermal learning environment in order to improve learner's learning performance.