Publication

Metabolic variation without movement: The role of cognitive load

2025

Abstract

Cognitive activity imposes measurable metabolic demands, yet most models assume fixed metabolic rates for sedentary indoor environments. This study investigates how metabolic rate, thermal sensation, and nutritional state jointly influence cognitive performance across four domains—alertness, reasoning, memory, and concentration—under controlled experimental conditions. Five participants (3M, 2F) completed cognitive tasks across three experimental scenarios: neutral-fed, cold-fed, and neutral-fasted. Results revealed a significant inverse relationship between metabolic rate (MR) and alertness performance in postprandial states (slope = –109.20·MR), suggesting metabolic diversion to digestion. Under fasting, the trend reversed (slope = +134.29·MR), supporting the hypothesis that mental effort elevates MR. Thermal sensation also influenced MR: males exhibited higher MR in cold environment (1.08 ± 0.06 met) than females (0.85 ± 0.07 met, p ˂ 0.05). Cognitive performance patterns varied by sex, with males performing better in cooler conditions and females in warmer ones. These findings suggest that cognitive load, particularly alertness, may serve as a real-time proxy for metabolic variation in the absence of physical activity. Integrating such feedback into indoor environmental models could improve thermal comfort, cognitive support, and energy efficiency in sedentary settings.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/716f6ab9-5b1f-47ea-a72f-8ba27322ff68

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2025

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/716f6ab9-5b1f-47ea-a72f-8ba27322ff68

About this result

Related concepts (32)

Thermal comfort

Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation (ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55). The human body can be viewed as a heat engine where food is the input energy. The human body will release excess heat into the environment, so the body can continue to operate. The heat transfer is proportional to temperature difference. In cold environments, the body loses more heat to the environment and in hot environments the body does not release enough heat.

Cognitive science

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes with input from linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, computer science/artificial intelligence, and anthropology. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Cognitive scientists study intelligence and behavior, with a focus on how nervous systems represent, process, and transform information.

Cognitive skill

Cognitive skills, also called cognitive functions, cognitive abilities or cognitive capacities, are brain-based skills which are needed in acquisition of knowledge, manipulation of information and reasoning. They have more to do with the mechanisms of how people learn, remember, solve problems and pay attention, rather than with actual knowledge. Cognitive skills or functions encompass the domains of perception, attention, memory, learning, decision making, and language abilities.

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Metabolic variation without movement: The role of cognitive load

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