SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
H QUALITY INDOOR ENVIRONMENT CT ON COGNITIVE FUNCTION
Study participants’ cognitive function was measured daily within the environmentally controlled space at the Total Indoor Environmental Quality Laboratory at the Syracuse Center of Excellence.
dioxide and volatile organic compounds that we commonly encounter in conventional office buildings are associated with decreases in worker performance compared to when those same workers are in green building environments. Second, when we enhance ventilation and optimize indoor environmental conditions, we see improvements in the cognitive function of workers. And third, these results fill important knowledge gaps in existing research about the relationship between green buildings and occupant health.” The study was conducted in the environmentally controlled, world-class Total Indoor Environmental Quality Laboratory at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems in Syracuse, New York, and took place over the course of six workdays spread across a two-week period. “Participants spent each day during the test period conducting their normal work
activities in indoor environments that are encountered every day by large numbers of workers,” said Dr. Suresh Santanam, Associate Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University and study co-investigator. “Because of the controlled way in which the study was designed and conducted within the state-of-the-art lab, we’re confident of the results, which are very significant.” At the end of each six-hour workday, participants completed a 1.5 hour cognitive assessment using a well-validated, computer-based cognitive assessment test. “The Strategic Management Simulation evaluates decision-making and has been used by more than 70,000 participants worldwide over the last seven decades,” said Dr. Usha Satish, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, SUNY Upstate Medical University and study co-investigator. “It gives participants the freedom to make decisions based on their own cognitive styles and is reflective of their
performance in the real world. The gains in performance output under conditions of improved indoor environments could be seen in areas such as the handling of day-to-day workplace challenges, where they were better able to understand and use their resources with optimal task prioritization.”
The Center for Health and the Global
Environment at the Harvard Chan School and SUNY Upstate Medical are launching a second phase of research, which will move from the lab into real buildings across the United States. This research will also be supported by a gift from United Technologies.
The full report is available at
www.CHGEHarvard.org/COGfxStudy and
www.theCOGfxStudy.com
PSS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
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