For any ladies that are always freezing…
Ever arrive at your desk in work and see a female colleague draped in a blanket, huddling for warmth, and doing their very best impression of Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining?
Well, a new study has proven that it’s beneficial to turn up the thermostat, claiming women perform significantly better in cognitive tests when there are warmer conditions.
During a recent experiment, participants were assigned to sessions where they would complete tasks in temperatures ranging between 16.19C and 32.57C.
Participants were selected from various universities in Berlin and while they might not have reflected the broad population in terms of age, the cognitive ability of participants was on a similar level.
In each session, participants were given the same set of tasks and were categorised as the following; adding up numbers (math), words building (verbal) and cognitive reflection (CRT).
The study showed at higher temperatures, women perform better on a math and verbal task while the reverse effect is observed for men.
The increase in female performance in response to higher temperature is significantly larger and more accurately estimated than the corresponding decrease in male performance.
Elsewhere, it was shown that men perform better in cooler conditions; but their performance is affected to a much lesser degree.
The full study can be read here but in a nutshell, if you’re a woman always looking for the temperature to be increased, you’ve now got another very good reason to make this request.
We’re also interpreting this study as a sign that female members of the workforce should go into their office and ask their boss to set up offices in the Caribbean.
After all, we now know that women work better in higher temperatures.
It’s a win-win situation.
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