The Living Space: Psychological Well-Being and Mental Health in Response to Interiors Presented in Virtual Reality

Abstract

There has been a recent interest in how architecture affects mental health and psychological well-being, motivated by the fact that we spend the majority of our waking time inside and interacting with built environments. Some studies have investigated the psychological responses to indoor design parameters; for instance, contours, and proposed that curved interiors, when compared to angular ones, were aesthetically preferred and induced higher positive emotions. The present study aimed to systematically examine this hypothesis and further explore the impact of contrasting contours on affect, behavior, and cognition. We exposed 42 participants to four well-matched indoor living rooms under a free-exploration photorealistic virtual reality paradigm. We included style as an explorative second-level variable. Out of the 33 outcome variables measured, and after correcting for false discoveries, only two eventually confirmed differences in the contours analysis, in favor of angular rooms. Analysis of style primarily validated the contrast of our stimulus set, and showed significance in one other dependent variable. Results of additional analysis using the Bayesian framework were in line with those of the frequentist approach. The present results provide evidence against the hypothesis that curvature is preferred, suggesting that the psychological response to contours in a close-to-reality architectural setting could be more complex. This study, therefore, helps to communicate a more complete scientific view on the experience of interior spaces and proposes directions for necessary future research.

The contour effect: Differences in the aesthetic preference and stress response to photo-realistic living environments

“…Earlier research, however, has identified sex differences, linking contour preference and sketch production to symbolic representations of the human body morphology ( Munroe et al, 1976 ). Similar tendencies were also observed in a previous study from our lab, where a significant positive effect of angular rooms (on cognitive performance and subjective ratings of affect and spatial experience) was found in male when compared to female participants ( Tawil et al, 2021 ). However, to date, no study has yet attempted to examine these differences in contours evaluation with interior design stimuli.…”

“…When comparing with traditional presentation modes, evidence on the curvature effect in virtual environments seems inconsistent. Empty virtual rooms with curved boundaries were found to elicit more pleasantness and arousal than those with linear boundaries ( Banaei et al, 2017 ), while no effects were observed in another study where participants were immersed in photo-realistic virtual interiors ( Tawil et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The stimulus material was derived from a previous study where stimuli were presented in VR ( Tawil et al, 2021 ). Minor adjustments were implemented to achieve further control over possible confounding variables.…”

“…When presented with images showing lines, abstract/ geometric shapes, drawings/images of real objects, or sketches/ images of products (e.g., packages, car interiors), it appears that people prefer curved over angular or edgy stimuli ( Gordon, 1909 ; Leder and Carbon, 2005 ; Bar and Neta, 2006 ; Silvia and Barona, 2009 ; Westerman et al, 2012 ; Palumbo et al, 2015 ; Chuquichambi et al, 2021 ). Findings were replicated under different experimental paradigms, further exploring other possible stimulus-related mediators, but also interindividual differences (moderators) of this phenomenal effect (refer to Tawil et al, 2021 and Corradi and Munar, 2019 for a more detailed review).…”

A one-hour walk in nature reduces amygdala activity in women, but not in men

“…Based on the aforementioned literature, we predicted that the walk in nature would have a more beneficial effect for amygdala activity in women compared to men. Furthermore, based on the previous studies showing that exposure to nature is beneficial for attention and cognitive capacity ( Berman et al, 2008 ; Ohly et al, 2016 ; Stevenson et al, 2018 ), and taking into account the importance of exploring interindividual differences such as sex when investigating the effects of man-made environments on cognition ( Tawil et al, 2021 ), we predicted that cognitive performance on the MIST would improve after the nature compared to the urban walk and examined potential sex differences.…”