Investigating the effects of different levels of lighting on the attention index of male and female: An experimental study

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of different levels of lighting on the attention index of males and females under thermal comfort. Materials and Methods: To measure the effect of different lighting levels (200, 500, and 1500 lux) on attention index, Toulouse-Piéron Test was conducted in a chamber under thermal comfort condition (22°C, 45% RH). This study was conducted on 33 healthy students (17 males/16 females) with a mean (±standard deviation) age of 22.1 ± 2.3 years. The exposure time was 1.5 h. Results: The results indicated that the reduction in lighting level (200 lux) significantly decreased the attention index, speed, and accuracy of performance for both groups; however, this descending trend for the male participants was slightly higher than the female ones (P < 0.05). On the other hand, by increasing the lighting level (500 and 1500 lux), the attention index of the individuals was significantly improved under distracting and busy working environment (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The results of the present study demonstrated that the female participants showed better performance and lower mistakes in accuracy-demanded tasks. It was also found that, compared to the female participants, the attention level of the male participants was more easily affected. Furthermore, by increasing the lighting level, the distraction level among the female participants was lower than that of the males, and their ability to do dual tasks was significantly enhanced.

Keywords

• attention index
• cognitive performance
• lighting
• toulouse-piéron test