Glare and selective attention in information and communication technologies (ICT) clerical work in presence of sunlight

RODRIGUEZ, ROBERTO GERMÁN; YAMÍN JULIETA; PATTINI, ANDREA ELVIRA

HUMAN FACTORS

SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC

Lugar: Thousand Oaks, California.; Año: 2013

0018-7208

Objective: The main objective was to study the effects of a large area glare source as an environmental distractor, in terms of attentional disruption. We also aimed to describe performance differences in an attentional task between glare-sensitive people and glare-insensitives in presence of glare. Background: The ability to remain focused on a task is vital for any coherent cognitive function, such as VDT clerical work, especially when there might be potential interference from irrelevant distractors. Natural light, controlled, has positive impact on human health and performance; however, glare often correlates with uncontrolled sunlight. The hypothesis behind this investigation is that a large area glare source might become an environmental distractor affecting performance in an attentional task, and then glare-insensitive persons should be less affected by a glare source in terms of attentional disruption. Method: We planned an experiment in which, in two treatments with direct sunlight and diffuse daylight, 32 volunteers used a VDT under a dual task paradigm: they performed a divided attention Stroop task while performing a Working Memory Span Task. Visual comfort was assessed with Glare Sensation Vote. Results: Our results indicate that the subjects could not avoid the irrelevant distractor interference, resulting in slower reaction times in presence of the large area glare source. glare-sensitive persons showed statistically significant (p-value=0.046) higher Stroop Effect in presence of direct sunlight than in its absence. However, glare-insensitive subjects did not showed statistically different reaction times for incongruent stimulus between sunlight and daylight scenarios.