Speed at perceiving visual signals
In terms of speed of response to what we see, some of us have a clear advantage—which may explain why you’ve never excelled at sports. Haarlem and teammates determined that “some people have an...
More Findings related to ASMR
Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a hot topic. Lohaus and associates reviewed related published research and determined that “ASMR can be linked to several mental health-related variables (e.g., improved mood) and personality traits...
Writing is worth it! (vs the keyboard…!)
Van der Weel and Van der Meer share that “Brain electrical activity was recorded in 36 university students as they were handwriting visually presented words using a digital pen and typewriting the words on...
Nature Sounds and Health
Zhu and teammates found that “Listening to natural sounds, both live and recorded, in either a natural or built environment is considered natural sound exposure (NSE). . . . Fifteen studies . . ....
Visual density and choices made by people who are suffering ill health
Yi and colleagues found “that consumers under disease threat are less willing to buy products presented in a dense display. This is because disease threat activates a high-density avoidance mindset, which is carried over...
At home and onsite creativity
Rucker and associates “conducted an experimental study with a German company whose employees usually work in an activity-based workspace consisting of open, closed and informal spaces that can be used by employees depending on...
Sleep Tourism and Cocoons! Environmental Psych in the News
It seems a lot of us are having trouble sleeping in our homes (see this article for neuroscience research-based insights on creating a place where people sleep well). So many of us are sleep...
BBC’s Most Remarkable Homes
Dominic Lutyens has taken a look around our wide, wide world and identified the 8 homes he finds most remarkable, because of their design and earth friendly features (2024, BBC, “Eight of the World’s...
Future more Accessible Spaces
As Jordan Valinsky and Eva Rothenberg report in “Here’s What the Starbucks of the Future Looks Like” (2024, CNN,https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/17/food/starbucks-accessible-store-design/index.html ) Starbucks is making big changes, ones that should make their sites more pleasantly accessible...
Add Variety to be More Creative
Nagayama found that having multiple worksites can boost our creativity. Via a survey they probed “the relationship between MLW [multiple-locational work] . . . and worker outcomes, such as engagement, creativity, and well-being. ....
Consequences of Time in Nature
Joye and teammates report that they “tested the ‘nature-as-reward hypothesis’, which suggests that superior cognitive task performance following nature exposure reflects a general performance improvement, driven by the reward value of beautiful things. ....
Sensory Links
Rodriguez and colleagues evaluated ties between sounds smells and tastes. They used a literature review to determine that “Sweetness perception was reported to be associated with high pitch . . . piano timbre ....
Collaboration – in person vs online
Van der Wouden and Youn (as reported by Ayshford) studied “17 million scientific publications over the past 45 years find[ing] that researchers who collaborated locally were much more likely to gain new knowledge from...
Sound Masking and Mental Health
Bergefurt and teammates report that “To date, most studies on sound masking are short-term laboratory studies. . . . The current study aims to evaluate, using a longitudinal field study . . . at...
Sitting, Standing and Health
Nguyen and colleagues report that their “research evaluated the cost-effectiveness of three hypothetical SB interventions: behavioural (BI), environmental (EI) and multi-component intervention (MI). . . . The effectiveness of the modelled interventions in reducing...
Teenagers and Physical Spaces
Buttazzoni and Minaker studied teenager (age 9 to 17) and identified “several significant associations. Notably, spaces high in complexity (visual richness), imageability (distinctiveness), and enclosure (room-like quality) tended to support positive affect [mood]. Additionally,...
Time Perception, Time in Nature
Correia shares that “There is growing evidence that nature experiences can influence human sense of time by (i) extending human perception of temporal duration and (ii) shifting time perspectives. People who spend time in...
Mental Health and Nature Access
Makram and colleagues “found that neighborhoods with a NatureScore of 60+ [0–100; low to high nature levels] had lower overall mental health utilization than those below 40. . . . This relationship persisted for...
Bigger = Better
Spielmann and Rossi “Through four studies, including a field study, we examine the associative semantic schema deduced from wider (versus narrower) glassware rim and how the ‘bigger is better’ bias influences consumer purchase behavior...
Designing in Taste
Spence reports that “people intuitively match roundness with sweetness, while picking angular forms to represent the other four basic tastes. . . . Roundness is also associated with and tends to accentuate, creaminess. ....
Seeing and Eating
Joye and colleagues “tested if savoring (visual) beauty could satiate consumers, such that they would no longer feel the need to satisfy themselves via actual eating. In two studies, participants had to watch photos...
What you’re missing (maybe?!)
Dominic Lutyens in an article for bbc.com (“Inside the Homes That ‘Whisper Rather Than Scream Luxury,’” 2024, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240208-inside-the-homes-that-whisper-rather-than-scream-luxury ) writes about the rise of quietly luxurious spaces. As he reports, “In his foreword to...
Sleeping in Cupboards
Think your sleeping situation is challenging? In days of yore, people slept in cupboards, as Zuria Gorvett describes in “The Strange Reasons Medieval People Slept in Cupboards (2024, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240122-the-strange-reasons-medieval-people-slept-in-cupboards): “Otherwise known as a closet...
Taking classes online
Harris and Whiting found that “Participants in online classrooms struggle to make sense of emotional interactions. This is due to the separation of physical place between persons and the inability to see the reaction...
Lighting at home for Older Generation
Banerjee and associates determined that “better lighting at home was associated with increased physical activity at home. For every 0.1-log units increase in average home lighting, individuals took 5% more daily steps and had...
Closeness and Brands – real or artificial affects how we feel about them…
Rauschnabel and colleagues report that “Our results show that because AR [augmented reality] makes digital objects appear directly in front of the consumer, or even virtually applied to the consumer’s body, it can increase...
Attributes of Homes we’re Willing to Pay for
Lou, Wang, Yuan, and Lu used data from Hong Kong to measure assessed WTP (willingness to pay) for various design features in homes: “We first simulate the metrics of five housing attributes under different...
Father child bonding and green spaces
Neighbourhood design and some parenting practices seem to be related. Mygind and colleagues state that “There were no observable associations between residential greenness [i.e., Normalized Difference in Vegetation Index] within a 1,600 m network radius...
Team Colours, Implications
Forrester and colleagues report that “This study aims to empirically test whether identifying as a supporter of either New South Wales (NSW) or Queensland (QLD) rugby league teams influences the extent that their respective...
Clothes and Thinking
Horton, Adam, and Galinsky share that “Enclothed cognition refers to the systematic influence that clothes can have on the wearer’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviors through their symbolic meaning. It has attracted considerable academic and...
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