VC-21-C033 -- Review of the Effects of Indoor Air Quality on Occupants

When studying indoor air quality and its effects on occupants, researchers tend to focus on three different types of methodologies: 1) surveys, 2) cognitive function tests, and 3) the use of equipment to determine changes in neurological activity. This review was completed to summarize the results of 15 different experimental studies that used variations of the three previously mentioned methodologies to study the effects of the air quality concerns of CO2 and indoor air pollutants. Through the studies reviewed, it was suggested that surveys tend to be too subjective in terms of the occupant’s answers resulting in high uncertainties for some of the studies. Task completion, whether it is through simple individual tasks or preselected batteries of tasks are more objective, but still show notable variations between results completed in similar environments. Neurological activity studies tend to provide more information and objective results that allow for a deeper understanding of exactly how the indoor environment effects human cognitive function within a space.