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Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

nytimes.com

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Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#281

Post by tempestn »

Thiez wrote: post #236
tempestn wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been sued for injuries caused while performing CPR, so I could certainly imagine someone being sued for undressing a person (without their consent, obviously) to perform CPR.

You can sue anyone for just about anything. But it doesn't seem like a very winnable case to me. Maybe in some crazy jurisdictions. Many places have 'good Samaritan' laws that protect people who are not medical professionals when they cause injuries during a good faith attempt to safe someone's life. I would assume injuries to someone's modesty are included... At the end of the day, would you rather let a woman in ne…

Of course, I agree. My point was just that it's not like my grandparent's suggestion that there could be consequences for the rescuer is unheard of.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#282

Post by closeparen »

TornTongues wrote: post #2

I subjectively noticed that a "stale office building" environment prevents my thinking, while a breeze in the open air is more intellectually stimulating. Attributed this to the richer environment of nature, but it turns out that there is scientific research that finds a correlation between cognitive ability and airflow: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036013231... Short answer: yes.

My office building is clearly capacity-planned for cubicles. As we pack it denser and denser, the overload shows up in obvious places: elevators, bathrooms, cafeterias, parking. But I bet we are also overtaxing the air handlers. Might help explain why it feels so much more stifling now.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#283

Post by A2017U1 »

ggreer wrote: post #279
Tade0 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take is that it's the oxygen level. A drop from the usual 21% to 19.5% is enough to have a significant effect. That's barely a few hours worth of breathing in a typical office setting.

I don’t think that’s true. People in Denver don’t seem dull but they are breathing 17% less air (and oxygen) per breath than people at sea level.

How much less air they are breathing per minute is far more relevant.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#284

Post by teekert »

ggreer wrote: post #240

If it is, it's not due to CO2. The US Navy's submarines are run with CO2 levels varying from 300-11,300ppm.[1] The military did plenty of studies in the 60s and 70s and failed to find significant cognitive effects in environments as high as 4% CO2.[2] > Thus, CO2 at 40,000 ppm for 2 weeks did not affect performance on multiple tests of cognitive function in physically fit young airmen, a population probably not unlik…

2 hours in a meeting room is just plain exhausting, I'm 100% certain than I am more willing to compromise or walk out with shitty decisions by the end of it.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#285

Post by Vinnl »

inetknght wrote: post #218
Klathmon wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found the study I read, and I'll re-link it here, it is eye opening to say the least! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15893291

Is there a link for the Elsevier-disabled people?

Unfortunately Unpaywall (tip: install the browser extension!) doesn't find any: https://unpaywall.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2005.01.018

So unless you're willing to go the illegal route through Sci-Hub, I'm afraid you're out of luck.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#286

Post by inflatableDodo »

gwern wrote: post #253
ComputerGuru wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that info and the links! I'm curious: Did you know about this report prior to researching this particular paper's claim?

Yes. The question of CO2 and the difficulty reconciling Satish with practically all other CO2 studies has been a question of interest to ggreer & me since it was first raised on LW years ago: http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/nk0/what_is_up_with_car...

Was just reading that through and idly wondering, if that was the only experiment getting such a result, and there is nothing obviously wrong with the methodology, was there anything else by accident in the tank or gas lines they used for the CO2?

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#288

Post by jmiserez »

blablabla123 wrote: post #184
mettamage wrote: post #87

I just want to plug a client that I worked for that solves this problem: Healthy Workers. Healthy Workers is a Amsterdam-based startup that measures thing such as: air quality, CO2 and consented employee data (e.g. their sleep and focus) and makes an analysis what parts of the building have an unconductive work environment and how this can be improved. Conference rooms with bad air are the first problem they look at.…

That's such an overlooked problem. Companies with healthy finances might have all the comforts like great chairs, tables and IT equipment but the rooms might just be overheated and have bad air. Would be great if this would be added to the list of ergonomics. In fact this is probably one of the undisputed pros of an open office, the air quality is most of the times quite good.

I'd dispute it: You can't as easily open a window in an open office, everyone has to agree.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#289

Post by golemotron »

ggreer wrote: post #240

If it is, it's not due to CO2. The US Navy's submarines are run with CO2 levels varying from 300-11,300ppm.[1] The military did plenty of studies in the 60s and 70s and failed to find significant cognitive effects in environments as high as 4% CO2.[2] > Thus, CO2 at 40,000 ppm for 2 weeks did not affect performance on multiple tests of cognitive function in physically fit young airmen, a population probably not unlik…

What if people are just dumber in crowds? I can imagine that as a psychological effect of heightened social awareness/interaction. Part of our cognitive capacity goes to that.

Re: Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

#290

Post by Broken_Hippo »

tdumitrescu wrote: post #96
sevensor wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently there was a fad for building schools with no windows. There's a 70s era middle school in the (U.S.) town where I live; it won a design award for its total lack of fenestration. It was supposed to reduce distraction or something.

My HS in central NJ had neither windows in the classrooms, nor WALLS. It was designed like a giant open office bullpen thing and classes were supposed to congregate in vaguely defined areas. By the time I got there in the early 90s, they had already erected borders everywhere out of movable chalkboards, so you basically got a traditional classroom layout but with noise pollution from all the other classes going on ne…

The walls were part of a new teaching fad. I lived in a city that tried it out in one school. Each floor was an open plan for the classrooms. This one elementary school was their trial.

The teachers had a love/hate relationship with this plan.

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