a University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo , Murcia , Spain.
b Department of Psychology , Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida , Orlando , FL , USA.
Int J Hyperthermia. 2018 Jun;34(4):423-431. doi: 10.1080/02656736.2017.1345013. Epub 2017 Jul 5.
There is little doubt that increases in thermal load beyond the thermo-neutral state prove progressively stressful to all living organisms. Increasing temperatures across the globe represent in some locales, and especially for outdoors workers, a significant source of such chronic load increase. However, increases in thermal load affect cognition as well as physical work activities. Such human cognition has perennially been viewed as the primary conduit through which to solve many of the iatrogenic challenges we now face. Yet, thermal stress degrades the power to think. Here, we advance and refine the isothermal description of such cognitive decrements, founded upon a synthesis of extant empirical evidence. We report a series of mathematical functions which describe task-specific patterns of performance deterioration, linking such degrees of decrement to the time/temperature conditions in which they occur. Further, we provide a simple, free software tool to support such calculations so that adverse thermal loads can be monitored, assessed and (where possible) mitigated to preserve healthy cognitive functioning.
毫无疑问，超过热中性状态的热负荷增加会对所有生物体造成逐渐的压力。全球范围内的气温上升在某些地方，特别是对户外工作者来说，是这种慢性负荷增加的一个重要来源。然而，热负荷的增加会影响认知和体力活动。这种人类认知一直被视为解决我们现在面临的许多医源性挑战的主要途径。然而，热应激会降低思维能力。在这里，我们基于现有的实证证据，提出并完善了这种认知能力下降的等温描述。我们报告了一系列数学函数，这些函数描述了特定任务的性能下降模式，将这些下降程度与它们发生的时间/温度条件联系起来。此外，我们还提供了一个简单的免费软件工具来支持这些计算，以便监测、评估和（在可能的情况下）减轻不利的热负荷，以保持健康的认知功能。
