Many studies have analysed the effects that design elements, such as lighting and colour, have on students' cognitive functions. These analyses, while providing useful information, do not allow researchers to compare the effects of multiple design elements. The objective of the present study is to analyse the relative influence of lighting, colour and geometry on attention and memory, the main cognitive functions that underlie learning, and on preference. In a controlled, virtual reality (VR)-based experiment, 200 university students (100 male/100 female) performed attention, memory and preference tests in classrooms with different configurations of lighting (colour temperature and illuminance), colour (saturation and hue) and geometry (height and width). The results identified significant gender-based differences, which demonstrates the need to segment, by gender, samples in this type of study. Lighting had the greatest influence, significantly affecting males' memories, females' attention and the preferences of both genders. Colour was also an influential element, significantly affecting females' attention, while geometry was the least influential. Finally, it should be highlighted that attention was the metric most sensitive to design variations. These results may be of interest to architects, interior designers and engineers who wish to create classrooms that satisfy students’ psychological needs.

许多研究分析了灯光和色彩等设计元素对学生认知功能的影响。这些分析虽然提供了有用的信息，但不允许研究人员比较多个设计元素的效果。本研究的目的是分析照明、颜色和几何形状对注意力和记忆力、学习基础的主要认知功能以及偏好的相对影响。在一项基于虚拟现实 (VR) 的受控实验中，200 名大学生（100 名男性/100 名女性）在具有不同照明（色温和照度）、颜色（饱和度和色调）配置的教室中进行了注意力、记忆力和偏好测试和几何形状（高度和宽度）。结果发现存在显着的性别差异，这表明需要按性别对此类研究中的样本进行细分。照明的影响最大，显着影响男性的记忆、女性的注意力以及两性的偏好。颜色也是一个影响因素，显着影响女性的注意力，而几何形状的影响最小。最后，应该强调的是，注意力是对设计变化最敏感的指标。这些结果可能会引起建筑师、室内设计师和工程师的兴趣，他们希望创建满足学生心理需求的教室。显着影响女性注意力，而几何形状影响最小。最后，应该强调的是，注意力是对设计变化最敏感的指标。这些结果可能会引起建筑师、室内设计师和工程师的兴趣，他们希望创建满足学生心理需求的教室。显着影响女性注意力，而几何形状影响最小。最后，应该强调的是，注意力是对设计变化最敏感的指标。这些结果可能会引起建筑师、室内设计师和工程师的兴趣，他们希望创建满足学生心理需求的教室。