Effects of body and hand cooling on complex manual performance

Abstract

12 U.S. Army enlisted men were tested on 3 manual tasks (knot-tying, block-stringing, and block-packing) under 1 control and 3 experimental conditions involving Cold Hand and/or Cold Body temperatures. The 3 cooling conditions had a differential effect across the 3 tasks. Cold Body was the only condition that did not result in significant decrements for all tasks. Knot-tying was unaffected by body cooling. The results were interpreted in terms of the differential effect of cooling the hand or body on various aspects of complex manual performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)