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...
Colours of Energy Levels
People are people and brains are brains wherever they are, so it’s no surprise that colours influence us in predictable ways no matter where we find ourselves. Colour has 3 dimensions, hue, saturation, and...
Associations of hues
Over time, groups of people come to link specific concepts/ideas to certain colours. Sometimes these colour-idea bonds seem to happen almost by decree, for example, when a political party decides to adopt a colour...
Colours for Home Offices
Whether you’re picking colours for your home office or a space where thousands will work, the same rules apply. Neuroscience has made it clear that it’s important for people doing knowledge work to coordinate...
Colours for mingling!
Making mingling with others a positive experience requires a lot more than just throwing people into a room together, as anyone who’s ever done just that and watched their party fizzle can confirm. When...
Additional colour effects…
Neuroscientists have also learned that: • Lighter colours on walls make a room seem slightly larger than it actually is and darker ones slightly smaller. The same goes for light colours on ceilings and...
Using Colours Together
In life, we’re almost never in a place with only one surface colour (and if we are, particularly if that colour is white, we’re apt to be so stressed that we’re having a very,...
Patterns
We’ve talked about the implications of seeing particular surface patterns, in upholstery, wallpapers, etc., in this article. Some of the highlights of the linked to article include: • Curving lines are relaxing to view...
Designing for Family Harmony!
As Winter sets in North of the Equator (and Winter will inevitably take place south of the Equator ultimately, again, for a few more years at least, even with global warming), we spend more...
Setting the Thermometer
With Winter and Summer comes more time indoors in much of the developed world—and depending on whether you’re in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, Winter/Summer is almost upon us. Spring and Autumn are regularly...
Dealing With the Stress of “Regular Life”
Whoever we are, sometimes our lives become more stressful. Whether it’s because we’re returning to our usual lives after a relaxed summer away from our usual challenges or because the weather is getting better...
Soundtracking your life!
Most of us have ears that work OK most of the time—there’s the occasional ear infection or very bad cold, but that is a passing thing, at least generally. So what’s best to hear...
Moving furniture, changing curtains, one step at a time…..
When one season is transitioning to the next, acknowledge the passage of time! Make a few changes to the places where you spend time. A few changes don’t mean make everything different. That sort...
Choosing the Right Plant
Plants inside can be great—when they’re around our minds and our bodies work well—our cognitive performance and creativity go up, we get along better with other people, our stress levels fall—the list goes on...
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...
Design nerds take note!
Recently,we’ve gotten access via photographs to two interesting spaces: the chambers of the US Supreme Court (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/27/us/supreme-court-chamber-photos.html) and the room that British royals are in just before they step onto the famous balcony, the...
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