<i>Effects of Localized Hand Cooling Versus Total Body Cooling on Manual Performance</i>

Abstract

Subjects were tested on complex manual performance tasks under two different environmental conditions. Under one condition, only the subject's hands were cooled while the rest of his body was exposed to a comfortable ambient temperature. In the other experimental condition the subject worked in toto in a low ambient temperature. The tests were given, in both cases, when finger skin temperatures reached certain predetermined levels. No significant differences were found between performances obtained under the two conditions of exposure; however, the results indicate that performance was impaired when finger skin temperature dropped. The finger temperature seems to have been the primary determinant of manual performance decrement. Submitted on November 4, 1957