THE EFFECTS OF HIGH AMBIENT TEMPERATURE ON SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Abstract
The study was designed to determine whether or not an increase in ambient temperature impaired man's ability to recall aurally-presented messages, and whether impairment was greater for some types of messages than for others. On three separate days, 15 men were exposed for 1 hour in an all-weather chamber to each of three different effective temperatures (ET): 72F, 90F, and 95F. During each day's session they were given five successive recall trials on each of six different messages. The men had to work continuously during each hour-long session. The results showed that average recall dropped significantly as environmental temperature was increased. The recall decrement between 90F and 95F was statistically significant, but the drop in recall between 72F and 90F was not significant. Messages of all types suffered approximately equal decrements under the high temperatures.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0623683
Entities
People
- John F. Wing
- Robert M. Touchstone
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory