Seeing too much!
Researchers have determined that “Too much stuff in the periphery of our vision can make it difficult to identify what we’re seeing.” This study is published in Neuron. “’Visual Clutter’ Alters Information Flow in...
Urban design and city folk behaviour
Wei and colleagues found that “Perceived built environment positively predicts prosocial tendencies.” As cities are evaluated more positively, people are more likely to behave as their society prefers them to (e.g., helping others in...
Circadian lighting benefits
Researchers recently reported that “The use of circadian-informed lighting, where artificial lighting is synchronised to the natural biological rhythms or a person’s ‘body-clock’, significantly improves quality of sleep and work performance for night shift...
Community Gardening
Gray, Tracey, and Pigott report findings consistent with those of previous researchers: “Community gardening is a successful social and nature prescription intervention. Community gardening improves health, wellbeing and community connectedness. Community gardening reduces vulnerability...
Plants and mindset
Zhao and colleagues found via a literature review that “studies generally reported beneficial associations between having indoor plants and mental health, such as reducing stress, depressive symptoms, and negative emotions. . . . In...
Music after Surgery
Frezza lead a team that found via a literature review “that the simple act of listening to music after surgery, whether with headphones or through a speaker, had noticeable effects on patients during their...
Increase in uniqueness fading
Chopik and associates report that “Recent research and polling suggest that people may be more reluctant to express themselves and stand out than in previous years. . . . We examined changes in need...
Kids need Privacy
Latreille, Houle, and Coulombe interviewed people 14-20 living in public housing: “Many of the participants in our study mentioned the positive or negative influence . . . of having or not having their own...
Listening to music while working
Scott and colleagues collected data from “three studies: a pilot study of 108 employees from a software company who took part in a 2-week . . . study and self-rated their music listening and...
Humanness and Contact with Nature
Cheng, Wang, Shi, and Teng report “that perceiving humanness in others . . . significantly impacts a range of crucial outcomes. These outcomes include preserving the well-being of [those] perceived . . . fostering...
Hotelification of the Office
Stacey Freed writes about firms’ efforts to encourage people to work onsite by making those sites oases of pleasure, really resorts for working. It remains to be seen if these attempts at “hotelification,” which...
Green green green!
“Brat” an album released by Charli XCX has made one particularly intense green the colour of the summer. Callie Holterman (2024, “You Can’t Escape This Color,” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/style/what-is-brat-green.html ) has written...
And just for fun…. Visual Complexity… what do you think?
People reports on what’s new in dorm room design and their article is pretty stunning, and not necessarily in a good way – many neuroscience-based design rules are broken, from creating spaces that are...
Older People and Biophilic Design
Biophilic design is a positive, no matter how old we are. Pandita and Choudhary reviewed previously published articles related to biophilic design in assisted living facilities. They found that “The research advocates the benefits...
Can we “Hear” Hot Water?
Humans are even more interesting creatures than you might have thought. Wenger and teammates report that “People can use their sense of hearing for discerning thermal properties, though they are for the most part...
Biophilic Spaces for Studying
Terblanche and Khumalo investigated studying on university campuses via a survey of user and report that “The objective of this study is to determine how biophilic designs in study areas affect the productivity of...
Biophilic Design and Creativity
Suresh and colleagues confirm that people are more creative in biophilically designed offices: “Biophilia Index has shown a significant positive correlation and a strong predictive value for creativity of employees. . . . [data...
Nature scents?
Yildirim and colleagues gathered data in multisensory virtual reality simulations of an actual workplace: “the multisensory biophilic workplace significantly improved cognitive performance, reduced stress levels, and enhanced mood states compared to the non-biophilic one....
Forest Bathing
Szitas and colleagues confirm the value of forest bathing via a literature review, they “explored the effects of forest bathing on self-criticism, self-compassion. . . . Results showed that forest bathing is associated with...
Designing for “Personalities”
A recent article in The New York Times (Juan Ramirez, 2024, “The Broadway Actor Who Designs Dressing Rooms Inspired by Her Characters,” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/t-magazine/krysta-rodriguez-dressing-room-design.html ) focuses on dressing rooms created by an actress to reflect...
New Life into Old Buildings
Worldwide many fewer churches are needed for religious services, so many are being repurposed—and the buildings have some great architectural features, neuroscience-wise. In “As Hundreds of Churches Sit Empty, Some Become Hotels and Restaruants”...
Product Curves
Chen, Ma, Xiao, and Qin y report that field and lab research “showed that circular (vs. angular) shapes of new products decreased perceived learning costs, which, in turn, enhanced consumer innovation adoption intentions. ....
Design and Apparent Production Costs
Min, Liu, and Anderson found that “Brands and retailers often offer different aesthetic versions of the same base product that vary from visually simple to visually complex. . . . Consumers associate simple (vs....
How AI generated pictures of food influence us
Califano and Spence studied responses to AI-created pictures of food; their findings can likely be extended to other sorts of AI-generated images. Califano and Spence determined via online surveys that “participants . . ....
Metaverse nature
Lv focuses on the “recent proliferation of ‘metaverse’ virtual worlds, where tech companies are investing billions to create hyper-realistic digital environments, including simulated natural landscapes. . . . these virtual ecosystems risk perpetuating a...
Tasting while Stressed
Hu and associates had individuals experiencing varying levels of stress taste whole and skim milk. They report that “Chronic stress has been linked to changes in taste or odor perception. . . . Compared...
Human motivation and groups of people
Gabriel and Schneider “propose that much of modern human behaviour can be understood as the outcome of a primitive and implicit desire for social embeddedness (i.e., a desire to belong to a larger, societal-level...
Health and Stand-biased desks
Salzar and associates report that using data collected during 10 days of use of stand-biased, sit-stand, or traditional desks they “found that workers who use stand-biased desks stood more and sat less during their...
How heat affects our brain….
We talk regularly about the best temperatures for our minds (about 70 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (depending on your clothes, what you’re doing, etc.) , with 40 to 70% humidity, as reviewed here), but...
What does your topiary say about you?! Creating spaces for “who you are”….
Humans feel great when they’re in a place that they think conveys who they are and what’s important to them—and also when they’re in spaces that seem to clearly tell other people’s stories—something we’ve...
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