Effects of Mild-to-Moderate Ambient Cold and Chemical Protective Clothing (MOPP-IV) on Cognitive Performance of Male and Female Soldiers

摘要

Previous reports from this Institute describe two studies in which ambient heat(32.8 c, 61% rh) was found to affect the mental performance of male and female soldiers wearing chemical protective clothing (MOPP-IV). In the first study (T11-85), impairment of the performance of males was found after 4-5 hours. In the second study (T7-88), female soldiers, under identical conditions, showed impairment within three hours and fewer were able to sustain performance for the entire seven-hour exposure. A 'MOPP-Control' condition was included in both studies to assess performance in MOPP-IV without heat stress. The ambient temperature for this condition (12.8 C) was determined by calculating its thermal comfort equivalence with another control condition in which only the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) was worn (21.1 C). The matching of the two conditions for thermal comfort enables differences between them to be attributable to aspects of the MOPP system other than its installation. Keywords: Chemical protective clothing, Heat, Cold, Performance, MOPP gear, Cognition, Stress, Chemical warfare, Military, Mental work, Male and female. (sdw)