Cognitive Performance Improvement in a Workstation Design by Applying Biophilia and an Immersive Environment

An isolated and confined environment, which can be categorized as low, moderate, and extreme risk, is detrimental to the physiological and psychosocial well-being from office workers to space crewmembers. Countermeasures in mitigating the detrimental effects of sensory deprivation and social isolation in an office setting can potentially be applied to long-duration space missions. Moreover, despite the vast amount of research on detrimental effects, little is known on the effects of a wind or air somatosensorial feedback in an immersive virtual environment. A novel office workstation solution, which integrated a biophilic immersive environment and wind feedback, was designed and built. Other workstation design factors included a simple market research, construction & assembly, and ergonomics. The experiment was comprised of comparing 4 environmental conditions. An iPad mini app-based typing (keyboarding) test, Stroop Effect, and a cognitively demanding game (Mastermind) assessments were administered to quantitively measure task-oriented performance in the workstation. The study results were evaluated on the usefulness of the workstation countermeasures, and future development of solutions. Lastly, this study is part of a growing body of research about sensory and socially deprived environments.