THE PERFORMANCE OF MANIPULATIVE AND INSPECTION TASKS UNDER TUNGSTEN AND FLUORESCENT LIGHTING

Abstract

Abstract The influence of different lighting systems giving the same level of illumination upon performance of manipulative and inspection tasks was studied. Fifty-three students were given a battery of four tasks, once under tungsten light and once under fluorescent light. Three manipulative tasks consisted of size-grading ball bearings, needle threading and measuring steel rods. The fourth task, a clerical one, involved reading columns of paired numbers. Results showed that on the three manipulative tasks subjects worked significantly more quickly under fluorescent light than under tungsten light but did not make significantly more errors. The type of lighting appeared to have no effect on performance of the clerical task. It is suggested that working under a tungsten light (filament) may produce more fatigue due to increased glare. Differences in performance by males and females, and the effect of practice are also shown. Future experiments on this subject are outlined