Soundscaping for Better Moods
Your ears need a break! Every day they seem to be bombarded by the sounds of machines and other people that seem like they will drive you mad. But you can take steps to...
Travel Time – by air
This a time of year when many of us are travelling, but spending time in planes, trains, and automobiles can be quite a challenge psychologically—and of these modes of transport, being airborne can be...
What are your most dominant senses?
We tend to focus on what a space we’re developing looks like and that can be a big mistake. For most of us, happily we have multiple sensory systems operating simultaneously and we’re pulling...
Biophilic Design and the brain
Latini and associates report that “a new design approach for preliminary assessment of BD [biophilic design] intervention in VR is presented [in their paper]. . . . . [it compares] three office layouts (Indoor...
Older people gardening and the benefits
Guo, Yanai, and Xu set our to evaluate “the associations between garden factors (i.e., garden visit frequency and perceived garden quality) and older adults’ [mean age 79] psychological well-being outcomes (i.e., positive well-being and...
Screentime, Early Experiences, Later Consequences
A Heffler-lead team determined that “Greater early-life digital media exposures may be associated with atypical sensory processing. Further research is needed to understand why early media exposure is associated with specific sensory-related behaviors, including...
Childhood Anxiety and Greenspace Access
De la Osa and team collected data from children 3 – 11 years old: “Exposure to greenspace has been associated with mental health benefits in children; however, the available evidence for such an association...
Nature Soundscapes – additional evidence
A team of researchers from the University of Exeter “analysed data . . . collected as part of the BBC’s . . . Forest 404. . . .Participants listened to a range of environments...
Stop flies with Yellow!
Khoury reports that “Flies are more than a nuisance. They are the carriers and transmitters of numerous diseases, including particularly dangerous ones such as cholera, typhoid, and gastrointestinal illnesses. . . . In hot,...
Curvy Spaces
Tawil and colleagues’ found that “Previous research suggests that curved vs. angular interior environments trigger affective (e.g., preference). . . . responses. . . . Online participants . . . undertook four randomized tasks...
Light to dark or dark to light?
Su, Zhang, Zhu, and Xia found that “Gradient colours are widely used in product design. The variation of gradient colours muting a colour as a series of steps from bright to dull creates a...
We prefer physical books and art
Groth, Block, and Newman state that “The explosion in digitization means that individuals increasingly have the opportunity to choose between digital and physical versions of creative works—for example, between eBooks and paperback books. However,...
Feeling with your Fingertips – the Long Read
Humans have lots of skin, with lots of nerves embedded in it. All those nerves are churning away, second after second, sending millions of impulses to your brain – giving you all sorts of...
Feeling not with your Fingertips – from your feet to your butt!
We don’t just have nerve endings in our fingertips and tactile experiences from the soles of our feet as we walk, from our butts as we sit, etc., also influence our experiences in a...
Viewing Textures
Textures on surfaces are often seen, so they influence how people think and behave, even if no one ever reaches out to touch them: We prefer glossy surfaces to ones that are matte so...
Things we learned in 2023
In 2023, researchers have reported that: Symmetrical things seem more functional and reliable and asymetical ones more fun and exciting—useful information when you’re making choices. At-work sound volumes of about 50 dBA are best;...
Conversation Enhancers
As you move through the Winter months where you live, you may find conversations with those you’re “cooped up” with getting a little tense. Some science-based suggestions for smoothing your interactions with those you’re...
Peach Fuzz – Pantone Colour of the Year
Pantone has named their colour of the year for 2024 – Peach Fuzz (visible here: https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2024?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAj_CrBhD-ARIsAIiMxT-Srg5ERWiVQ_tNUUMnjWt_lx8EBYLwJ0511CQeVK2yE55oN6TMUFoaAo_BEALw_wcB). Sometimes the colours of the year that Pantone selects seem, well, wacky, but this year’s seems right on...
Global Warming Stripes
In “The Coloured Stripes That Explain Climate Change” (the BBC, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231206-the-coloured-stripes-that-explain-climate-change) Carla Rosch illustrates how the associations we have to colours can be used. Take a look at the warm and cool colours...
Beige is Blah…!
Kircher writes about an online negative reaction to a beige-y interior in “She Redecorated Her Boyfriend’s Apartment. Tik Tok Hated It.” (The New York Times, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/style/tiktok-beige-apartment.html). Science indicates that sometimes beige, as a very...
Use “Healthy” in your labelling
Sleboda and team’s work may be handy as you attempt to convince your family and friends to act in more environmentally responsible ways. The researchers collected data as “Participants chose between one gourmet food...
Tension and Tastes
Zushi’s team shares that “Prior research indicate that emotional states can alter taste perception, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. . . . The first experiment investigated how anxiety affects taste perception when individuals...
Synaesthesia!
If you’re interested in synaesthesia, take a look at Cytowic’s work, available at the link, below. Cytowic shares that “Synaesthesia has already caused a paradigm shift in two senses. For science, it has forced...
Designing New Year’s Resolutions – The Long Read
As one year ends and another begins we’re driven to think about the high and low points of the last 12 months and to plan for the next 12, and beyond. All of which...
Keeping your New Year’s Resolutions
Looking for tips for keeping your New Year’s resolutions? Look no further: Open the curtains and let in the natural light. We not only process information more effectively in natural light, our cognitive performance...
Design – Sending Silent Signals
As The Space Doctors has discussed oodles of times, human beings continually “read” the world around themselves, trying to determine what it has to “say.” All of which sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo,...
There are more benefits of being active – beyond the Calories!
The research is very clear that being active, really using your muscles throughout the day, has all sorts of benefits beyond burning calories (although burning calories is indeed a good thing). Taking a walk,...
Cold Weather Fixes…
Want to feel warmer? Make sure you’re surrounded by warm colours and nix the cooler ones. The difference in perceived temperatures can be as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Similarly, when we see images...
What Art?
Have you decided to add some art to your life? Neuroscience research makes it clear when it’s best to add what: Looking at nature scenes—in paintings, in photographs, etc.—helps you mentally refresh after you’ve...
Biophilic School Design – Great for Students, Teachers, and the Planet They Live On
When biophilic design principles are applied at places where people are learning and teaching, good things happen—moods and cognitive performance improve (for students and teachers!)—which is always a plus, whether trigonometry or Latin grammar...
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