Temperature and Low-stakes Cognitive Performance

Arbeitspapier

This paper offers one of the first evidence in a developing country context that transitory exposure to high temperatures may disrupt low-stakes cognitive activities across a range of age cohorts. By matching eight years of repeated cognitive tests among all the participants in a nationally representative longitudinal survey in China with weather data according to the exact time and geographic location of their assessment, we show that exposure to a temperature above 32 °C on the test date, relative to a moderate day within 22-24 °C, leads to a sizable decline in their math scores by 0.066 standard deviations (equivalent to 0.23 years of education). Further, the effect on the math test scores is more salient for individuals who are older or less educated.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: GLO Discussion Paper ; No. 1278

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Education and Inequality ; Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming ; Valuation of Environmental Effects
• Subject: cognitive performance ; high temperatures ; adaptation ; age gradients

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Zhang, Xin ; Chen, Xi ; Zhang, Xiaobo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Global Labor Organization (GLO)
• (where): Essen
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/270937
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET