Enlarged interior built environment scale modulates high frequency EEG oscillations

Abstract

There is currently no robust method to evaluate how building design affects our emotion. Understanding emotion is significant, as it influences cognitive processes, behaviour and wellbeing, and is linked to the functioning of physiological systems. As mental health problems are more prevalent, and exposure to indoor environments is increasing, it is important we develop rigorous methods to understand whether design elements in our environment affect emotion. Using virtual reality and controlling for indoor environmental quality, 66 participants were exposed to different enclosed in¬door room scenes, to understand if scale affected self-report, autonomic nervous system and central nervous system correlates of emotion. Scale did not modulate neurophysiological measures or self-reported emotion, but there were differences between resting state and built environment conditions in autonomic measures, power spectral density and frontal power lateralisation. This study provides a rigorous empirical framework for assessing the environmental impact of a design characteristic on human emotion.

Functional brain connectivity during exposure to the scale and color of interior built environments

“…Variables recorded included interval sound pressure levels, overall mean air and wet‐bulb globe temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, and relative humidity. These were all within acceptable range for optimal performance as previously reported in Bower et al (2022a) and Bower et al (2022b).…”

“…A key strength of this study is the use of the CAVE with EEG and IEQ monitoring to ensure ecological validity. Only a handful of studies worldwide have combined EEG measurement with an immersive CAVE environment (Bower et al, 2022a; Bower et al, 2022b; Edelstein et al, 2008; Pavone et al, 2016; Pezzetta et al, 2018; Vecchiato et al, 2015; Zappa et al, 2019), and our study is the first we are aware of which further controlled for IEQ variables and context within the space. Although debate exists around embodiment and the need for studies where participants move through spaces, we believe it is important to also understand the impact of being still within a space, as we spend a significant amount of time in prolonged stationary positions.…”

“…The use VR and indoor environmental quality monitoring, makes this a novel and robust approach to understanding the connection between the built environment and neuroscience. This study follows earlier work where we investigated changes in self‐report, power spectral analysis, and physiological indictors to scale and color of the built environment (Bower et al, 2022a, 2022b). A Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) was used to expose participants to indoor built environment scenes, a cost‐effective and controlled technique which enables greater sensorimotor integration than VR headsets (Kalantari et al, 2021; Sanchez‐Vives & Slater, 2005).…”

“…Emerging research is investigating whether we can measure the impact of built environment design characteristics on brain activity. Some studies have taken a macro approach by determining broad descriptors of complex built environments, such as “fascination,” “coherence,” and “hominess” (Coburn et al, 2020), while others have employed an incremental method by breaking down the built environment into fundamental physical design elements, such as “geometry,” “texture,” “scale,” and “color,” to understand them at the microlevel before building complexity into the experimental design (Bower et al, 2022a, 2022b).…”

Built environment color modulates autonomic and EEG indices of emotional response

“…As mentioned, participants in this study were a subset of those who took part in our built environment scale study. Although the sample size for the color condition was smaller than that for the scale conditions, the color condition resulted in a clearer effect (Bower et al, 2021 ). While it is unclear why the effect is more pronounced, the division in dorsal and ventral visual streams involved in visual processing could account for the differences (Milner & Goodale, 2006 ).…”