Some Don’t Like it Hot

Temperature affects us all, and also how we perceive and like the space we are in.

In our regular notes from science we picked up a recent study to share with you here. This research studied how temperature influences how much people like a space. Or not..!

Participants in the study experienced “a virtual reality environment at three different temperatures (15°C, 22°C, 30°C). . . .  An EEG device was used to determine the cognitive activities of the participants during space navigation. In addition, an eye-tracking device was used in virtual reality goggles to identify the areas that participants were looking at. It was determined that the architectural preferences of the people changed depending on the temperature of the space. . . . “

Basically, they altered the temperature and then examined how people looked at their environments.

“The architectural liking score average was at the lowest at the temperature of 30°C. The architectural liking average was higher at the 15°C temperature than the architectural liking at the 30°C, but lower than that of 22°C.”

Essentially, keeping it at a comfortable 22°C is best. 

Ilker Erkan. 2021.  “Cognitive Response and How It Is Affected by Changes in Temperature.” Building Research and Information, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 399-416, https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2020.1800439