Oral temperature and performance in 8 h and 12 h shifts

Abstract

Operators in an 8 h (n = 18) and a 12 h (n = 16) h shift went through an experiment in which oral temperature, disjunctive reaction time(DRT), tapping, logical reasoning, memory and search tasks were measured at 4 h intervals. A performance curve in DRT and in tapping over a 24 h cycle tended to follow the pattern of the body temperature curve. The curves of mental curves were flattened. The values measured in the two groups of Ss revealed differences of statistical significance.

Keywords:

• Shiftwork
• Oral temperature
• Performance.