Abstract:

Lighting affects students' cognitive performance, and university classrooms are no exception. It is known that the intensity of lighting can affect student performance. There are profiles of students with a sensitivity to the environment, among them students with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): according to estimates, 1 out of 3 students per classroom are found with this disorder. However, despite efforts and resources devoted to understanding the disorder, the effect of university classroom lighting on students with ADHD is unknown. The purpose of this research is to identify the ideal lighting intensity for students with ADHD. To this end, a field study was conducted on 30 students (15 with ADHD and 15 without ADHD) using virtual reality to assess memory of a cognitive task while the students were immersed in three identical classrooms with different lighting intensity: 100lx, 300lx, and 500lx. The results show that the illumination of a classroom affects the memory of students with and without ADHD, with significant differences between both groups of students when they are in a classroom with illuminance of 300lx. It is concluded that the choice of a certain level of illuminance of the classroom can be determinant for the inclusion of students with ADHD, attending to the cognitive performance of memory necessary in their teaching-learning process. Overall, the present study seeks to share supports for university students with ADHD through the interior lighting of the classroom, being useful for architects, researchers, and managers of educational spaces that somehow intervene in the design and development of spaces.

Keywords:

Memory, lighting, illuminance, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, university classroom.