Framework for Reaction to Place

Nittono and his colleagues investigated “the effects of viewing cute images on subsequent task performance.” 

A study by researchers from Georgia Tech and the University of Toronto indicates that people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), often seen as a precursor to Alxheimer’s disease, may benefit from a less visually complex environment.

How does street cleaning influence car usage?

New research confirms that it’s not just nature scenes that are restorative.  

An article published in the Biology of Sex Differences, indicates that the visual centers of male and female human brains work differently.

Lee and Schwarz build on the growing body of research indicating that many metaphorical expressions related to physical experiences seem to have a psychological component. 

New research linking vividness of experience and memory is useful to designers trying to create unforgettable or in some cases forgettable experiences (consider:  unpleasant medical tests).

Waterfalls are almost universally judged to be beautiful, but viewing them is not just an aesthetic experience. 

Designers developing spaces, particularly public ones such as restaurants, can reasonably assume that music will be played in the places they are creating and that the emotional effects generated by that music will combine with the psychological ramifications of their design to create an overall response.

Readers of Research Design Connections are familiar with discussions of ways that perceptions of the physical world are influenced by psychological processes.