A new study finds that students tend to score lower on tests when taking them in high-ceilinged rooms. Veuer’s Matt Hoffman reports.
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00:00Exams have always been intimidating for students, but they might be made even more challenging by an unexpected factor,
00:05the size of the room they're held in.
00:07That's according to a new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
00:11Researchers from the University of South Australia and Deakin University
00:14studied over 15,000 Australian college students from 2011 through 2019,
00:19and found that students tended to score worse on exams held in rooms with higher ceilings.
00:24This is consistent with previous research by co-author Dr. Isabella Bauer.
00:28She monitored subjects in various VR environments,
00:30and found that their brains seemed to have to work harder in larger rooms.
00:34But what the researchers don't know is why this is the case.
00:37Bauer says the key point is that large rooms with high ceilings seem to disadvantage students,
00:42and we need to understand what brain mechanisms are at play,
00:44and whether this affects all students to the same degree.