TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of correlated color temperature of light on thermal comfort, thermophysiology and cognitive performance
AU - Luo, W.
AU - Kramer, R.
AU - Kompier, M.
AU - Smolders, K.
AU - de Kort, Y.
AU - Lichtenbelt, W.V.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Dutch TKI Uran Energy projects PERDYNKA ( 1507503 ) and DYNKA ( TEUE117001 ). The authors would like to thank all the participants for their time and interest, Tineke van de Weijer for the medical consultancy, and Marc Souren for the technical support. Finally, the authors are grateful to Walter Willaert from the Signify BV and to Luís Cunha from the Almende BV for developing the lighting system.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/3/1
Y1 - 2023/3/1
N2 - Anecdotal evidence suggests that the correlated color temperature (CCT) of light can affect thermal comfort. Previous literature mostly investigated this effect over a short duration (<1 h) and often attributed it to the hue -heat hypothesis (color-temperature association), which posits that the visual experience of blue colors (high CCT) results in a cooler temperature sensation than red/yellow colors (low CCT) do. However, with longer duration, non-visual effects of CCT that elicit physiological changes may be at play additionally. Therefore, we contrasted two CCTs with relatively long exposures (>2 h; 2700 K vs. 5700 K with 500 lux illuminance at the eye) in office -like settings during mild cold exposure (17 degrees C) using a within-subject design (N = 16). The results indicate that CCT did not significantly affect thermal sensation in mild cold, which may be explained by the large interin-dividual variation in the color-temperature association. Interestingly, 5700 K even improved thermal comfort, decreased perceived shivering, and, after 1-h exposure, increased energy expenditure. Moreover, visual comfort was not significantly moderated by CCT, but 5700 K improved comprehensive cognitive performance. Concur-rently, arousal and alertness were higher in 5700 K, potentially indicating greater non-visual effects in 5700 K. Further analysis revealed that thermal comfort significantly correlated with perceived shivering and visual comfort, but not with the color sensation of the light. Together, the results provide no support for the hue-heat hypothesis under mildly cold conditions and suggest that high CCT enhanced thermal comfort, alertness, arousal, and cognitive performance, likely via non-visual mechanisms that built up over longer exposure durations.
AB - Anecdotal evidence suggests that the correlated color temperature (CCT) of light can affect thermal comfort. Previous literature mostly investigated this effect over a short duration (<1 h) and often attributed it to the hue -heat hypothesis (color-temperature association), which posits that the visual experience of blue colors (high CCT) results in a cooler temperature sensation than red/yellow colors (low CCT) do. However, with longer duration, non-visual effects of CCT that elicit physiological changes may be at play additionally. Therefore, we contrasted two CCTs with relatively long exposures (>2 h; 2700 K vs. 5700 K with 500 lux illuminance at the eye) in office -like settings during mild cold exposure (17 degrees C) using a within-subject design (N = 16). The results indicate that CCT did not significantly affect thermal sensation in mild cold, which may be explained by the large interin-dividual variation in the color-temperature association. Interestingly, 5700 K even improved thermal comfort, decreased perceived shivering, and, after 1-h exposure, increased energy expenditure. Moreover, visual comfort was not significantly moderated by CCT, but 5700 K improved comprehensive cognitive performance. Concur-rently, arousal and alertness were higher in 5700 K, potentially indicating greater non-visual effects in 5700 K. Further analysis revealed that thermal comfort significantly correlated with perceived shivering and visual comfort, but not with the color sensation of the light. Together, the results provide no support for the hue-heat hypothesis under mildly cold conditions and suggest that high CCT enhanced thermal comfort, alertness, arousal, and cognitive performance, likely via non-visual mechanisms that built up over longer exposure durations.
KW - Correlated color temperature
KW - Thermal comfort
KW - Non -visual effects
KW - Building energy efficiency
KW - Cognitive performance
KW - GANGLION-CELLS
KW - HEART-RATE
KW - ALERTNESS
KW - ENERGY
KW - ILLUMINANCE
KW - MELATONIN
KW - IMPACT
KW - WHITE
KW - SENSATION
KW - AROUSAL
U2 - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109944
DO - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109944
M3 - Article
SN - 0360-1323
VL - 231
JO - Building and Environment
JF - Building and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 109944
ER -