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Ross, Bolton, and Meloy studied the design of successful secondhand stores, it is possible that their findings can be extended to other situations.  The research trio found that “The market for secondhand items – goods previously owned by others- is rapidly growing. Disordered environments, characterized by disorganized or messy product displays, are frequently found in secondhand stores. . . .  A set of four studies finds disorder (vs. order) in the secondhand retail environment has opposing effects – enhancing consumers’ perceptions of finding hidden treasure but also heightening risk perceptions. However, the positive effects of disorder from increased hidden treasure perceptions do not overcome the negative effects from risk. For secondhand retailers who may face barriers to tidying up, what can be done to alter these inferences? We test and show that secondhand retailers can reduce risk and/or boost hidden treasure perceptions by a) offering a return policy or b) by signaling seller inventory knowledge.”

Gretchen Ross, Lisa Bolton, and Margaret Meloy.  “Disorder in Secondhand Retail Spaces:  The Countervailing Forces of Hidden Treasure and Risk.”  Journal of Retailing, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2022.12.002

A team from UCLA has confirmed that, to some extent, our knowledge is linked to place; their work is published in Science of Learning.  A UCLA press release reports that “Wearing VR headsets, participants explored one of two environments — a fantasy fairyland or a science fiction landscape — where they could click to learn the Swahili or Chinyanja names for the objects they encountered. Some participants learned both languages in the same VR environment; others learned one language in each environment. . . .  Subjects who had learned each language in its own unique context mixed up fewer words and were able to recall 92% of the words they had learned. In contrast, participants who had learned both sets of words in the same VR context were more likely to confuse terms between the two languages and retained only 76% of the words. . . . The less a participant felt like a subject in a psychology experiment . . .  the more the virtual contexts were able to positively affect their learning.”

“When Using Virtual Reality as a Teaching Tool, Context and ‘Feeling Real’ Matter.”  2022.  Press release, UCLA, https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/virtual-reality-teaching-tool-contex…

Palumbo and colleagues studied the preferences of different groups for curved and straight design elements. They report that they “administered abstract stimuli consisting of irregular polygons (angular vs. curved) and patterns of colored lines (angular vs. curved), as well as concrete stimuli consisting of images of interior spaces. Preference for curvature was confirmed with abstract stimuli in all 3 groups [people with autism, quasi-expert students of design, control group]. For interior design, the curvature effect diminished in magnitude, and this was especially evident in individuals with autism. Interestingly, quasi-experts preferred rectilinear over curvilinear interiors.” 

L. Palumbo, G. Rampone, M. Bertamini, M. Sinico, E. Clarke, and O. Vartanian.  2022. “Visual Preferences for Abstract Curvature and for Interior Spaces:  Beyond Undergraduate Student Samples.”  Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Ats, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 577-593, https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000359

Chiang and colleagues evaluated the implications of adding green plants along the sides of roads.  They share that “if driver reaction time (RT) can be reduced, drivers would have more time to assess the situation and take appropriate action to avoid the accident. . . . A driving simulator was employed to simulate highways with five road greening doses. During the simulation, an emergency incident was designed and video-displayed, and driver RT in the context of that situation was recorded. . . . The results revealed that with increased dose of road greening, driver attention level increased. In addition, a higher dose of greening resulted in a shorter RT during an emergency incident.”

Yen-Cheng Chiang, Rou-An Ke, Dongying Li, and Pei-Yi Weng.  “Greening and Safety:  The Influence of Road Greenness on Driver’s Attention and Emergency Reaction Time.”  Environment and Behavior, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/00139165221147627

Puligadda and VanBergen studied acoustic logos.  The research team found that “The instrument used to play a brand’s sound logo influences perceived brand personality. . . . A sound logo's instrument and a visual logo's design can have similarly strong influences on brand personality perceptions. . . . One attribute of auditory information is timbre, which describes the identity of a sound source (an instrument, voices, etc.). Extensive literature investigating effects of timbre outside of marketing contexts shows that different instruments convey different emotions, personalities, and . . . . the instrument used in a brand’s sound logo influences the brand’s personality perceptions (specifically perceived sophistication and ruggedness); b) these influences are due to visceral and conceptual effects of instrumentation; and c) a sound logo’s instrument is just as influential as a visual logo’s design on brand personality perceptions. . . . brands benefit from the congruence of sound and visual logos.” The sound of pianos was linked to sophistication and the synth bass and electric guitar were tied to ruggedness.

Sanjay Puligadda and Noah VanBergen. 2023. “The Influence of Sound Logo Instruments on Brand Personality Perceptions:  An Investiation of Brand Ruggedness and Sophistication.”  Journal of Business Research, vol. 156, 113531, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113531

Gao, Low, and Gong set out to learn how working in an activity-based workplace (ABW) influences employees’ psychological attachment to their physical workplaces. The group report that “Surveys are conducted with employees of the bank . . . who experienced the transition from the conventional open-plan office with designated seats to an ABW. . . . The results showed that there was a positive sense of belongingness amongst employees working in the ABW space . . . and an increased sense of belongingness compared with the previous conventional open-plan office. However, ABWs were found to also have a negative effect on employees’ sense of control and security.”

Shang Gao, Sui Low, and Hua Gong.  2022. “Effects of Activity-Based Workspaces on Employee Belongingness.”  Facilities, vol. 40, No. 1/2, pp. 98-117, https://doi.org/10.1108/F-08-2020-0093

Aldouby and teammates studied experiences in virtual settings.  They report that “One of the topics recurring in contemporary aesthetics is haptic visuality—a sense of physical touching, or being touched, induced by exposure to a purely visual stimulus. . . . we attempt at an empirical evaluation of this elusive concept. . . . participants could see their virtual hands and use them for interaction. Inside the virtual reality experience, the participants viewed four contemporary art images that were preselected as fostering haptic visuality. After viewing each image, the participants immediately performed a simple motor task and answered a few questions. The motor task comprised picking a virtual ball and placing it in a designated place, and in half of the cases their virtual arm was threatened by a virtual chainsaw. . . . art stimuli depicting a jagged object reduced the perceived threat to the virtual arm, indicating a decrease in ownership of the virtual body.”

H. Aldouby, B. Hasler, T. Nadav, and D. Friedman.  “Viewing Images of Jagged Texture in Digital Artwork Affects Body Sensations:  A Virtual Reality Study.”  Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, in press, https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000522

Lindeberg and teammates probed how transitioning to activity-based workplaces influences professional performance.  They learned via a survey distributed in larger Finnish cities that “In the ABW environment, a change in the physical work environment has a stronger relationship with the development of organizational productivity and a change in the social work environment has a stronger relationship with the development of organizational well-being than a change in the other work environment dimensions.”

Peter Lindeberg, Minna Saunila, Pia Lappalainen, Juhani Ukko, and Hannu Rantanen.  2022. “The Relationship of Physical, Digital and Social Work Environment Changes with the Development of Organizational Performance in the Activity-Based Work Environment.”  Facilities, vol. 40, no. 15/16, pp. 72-88, https://doi.org/10.1108/F-07-2021-0061

Weiss, Kahn, and Lam link children spending time in wilder nature areas to their behavior via an observational study in forest preschools. The researchers report that “Interaction with nature is vital for children's physical and psychological development. . . . [we] tested our hypothesis that relatively wild areas of this environment would be positively associated with child-nature behaviors that were more relational – that is, behaviors demonstrating a bond with nature or respect, including the ability to cohabitate with other lifeforms, and to promote the well-being of nature. Results confirmed this hypothesis.”

Thea Weiss, Peter Kahn, and Ling-Wai Lam.  “Children’s Interactions with Relatively Wild Nature Associated with More Relational Behavior:  A Model of Child-Nature Interaction in a Forest Preschool.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101941

Mejia-Puig and Chandrasekera studied human experiences in virtual reality spaces.  They share that they “assessed the effects on mental workload caused by how individuals visualize themselves in VR using a virtual body (VB). The VB is typically represented by the use of avatars. . . . Participants interacted in an immersive VR interface with three different conditions of the VB. They were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions and engaged for a period of approximately 20 minutes in tackling a design-like activity. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires in addition to a psychophysiological device accounting for the cognitive load (CL) and task difficulty. The statistical analysis supported differences in CL between conditions. A more detailed visual representation of the VB increased the sensation of being there but contributed extraneous CL that can hinder the task at hand. The findings of this study can guide interior designers in selecting the type of VB they should use for their immersive VR experiences.”

Luis Mejia-Puig and Tilanka Chandrasekera. “The Presentation of Self in Virtual Reality:  A Cognitive Load Study.”  Journal of Interior Design, in press, https://doi.org/10.1111/joid.12234