Latest Blog Posts

Hammoud and colleagues identified positive consequences of seeing or hearing birds.  They report that they “used the Urban Mind smartphone application to examine the impact of seeing or hearing birds on self-reported mental wellbeing in real-life contexts. . . . Everyday encounters with birdlife were associated with time-lasting improvements in mental wellbeing. These improvements were evident not only in healthy people but also in those with a diagnosis of depression, the most common mental illness across the world. . . . results . . . provid[ed] support to a specific benefit of birdlife on mental wellbeing, above and beyond the well-established effect of green spaces. . . . we found that the beneficial effect on mental wellbeing is still significant after the encounter with birds has taken place. . . . the beneficial effect of seeing or hearing birds on mental wellbeing does wane over time.”

Ryan Hammoud, Stefania Tognin, Lucie Burgess, Nicol Bergou, Michael Smythe, Johanna Gibbons, Neil Davidson, Alia Afifi, Ioannis Bakolis and Andrea Mechelli.  2022. “Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment Reveals Mental Health Benefits of Birdlife.”  Scientific Reports, vol. 12, 17589, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20207-6

Liu and colleagues conducted a literature review to better understand how people over 60 years old experience virtual nature. They determined that data available indicate “that natural landscapes displayed through virtual reality positively influence the emotions of older adults. Simple scenes such as waterscapes and plants were more applicable virtual interventions for older adults compared with complex scenes.”

Pai Liu, Jingdong Liu, Jessica Fernandez, Qingiun Zou, and Mofei Lin. 2023. “Positive Affect and Natural Landscape in Virtual Reality:  A Systematic Review Comparing Interventions, Measures, and Outcomes.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 88, 102011, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102011

Merrill and associates studied musical preferences; it is likely that their findings are applicable more broadly. The investigators determined via an online survey that “analysis identified two profiles of explanatory strategies for disliked music. The highbrow profile included reasons such as the music being Too Simple, or Not Authentic, having No Impact on the listener, and a perceived Social Incongruence, and was mainly associated with a dislike of German schlager, traditional music, and pop. The lowbrow profile included reasons such as the music being Too Niche and Too Complex and was associated with a dislike of jazz, classical music, heavy metal, and techno.”

Julia Merrill, Klaus Frieler, and Taren-Ida Ackermann.  “The Structure of Musical Dislikes.”  Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, in press, https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000565

Rizzo and team’s work confirms how much language used influences conclusions drawn.  They determined that “sensory language (e.g., words like “crumble” and “juicy” that engage the senses) shapes consumer responses to influencer-sponsored content. A multimethod investigation . . . demonstrates that sensory language increases engagement and willingness to buy the sponsored product. . . . these effects are driven by perceived authenticity. Sensory language leads consumers to infer that influencers actually use the product they are endorsing, which increases perceived authenticity, and thus engagement and purchase.”

Giovanni Rizzo, Jonah Berger, Matteo De Angelis, and Rumen Pozharliev.  “How Sensory Language Shapes Influencer’s Impact.”  Journal of Consumer Research, in press, ucad017, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucad017

How does how we’re moving or where we're standing while looking at art influence our responses to that art?  Kuhnapfel and colleagues share that “in a gallery-like setting . . . we tracked movements of participants that engaged an abstract artwork. . . . moving more/more dynamically related to more reported insight. . . . We found indications that when people spent more time near to the artwork, or when their mean viewing distance was closer, they rated the art as more meaningful, interesting, and reported feeling more stimulated and insight. Participants who spent more time standing farther away had a less stimulating, moving and emotionally arousing experience. . . . Spending relatively more time standing on the right side of the artwork/room positively correlated to more felt insight, experiencing a change in meaning, and understanding of artist intention, as well as to feeling less negative emotion. At the same time, spending relatively more time on the left side also correlated to more change in meaning and felt novelty.”

Corinna Kuhnapfel, Joerg Fingerhut, Hanna Brtinkmann, Victoria Ganster, Takumi Tanaka, Eva Specker, Jan Mikuni, Florian Guldenpfennig, Andreas Gartus, Raphael Rosenberg, and Matthew Pelowski. “How Do We Move in Front of Art?  How Does This Relate to Art Experience?  Linking Movement, Eye Tracking, Emotion, and Evaluations in a Gallery-Like Setting.”  Empirical Studies of the Arts, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374231160000

Altenburger studied how students experience safety-related design features at their schools.  She shares that her “ethnographic case study examines how a school building designed to promote both student engagement and safety supports school practices that prioritize minimizing risk. . . . Student voices focus on the connotations of a tall fence and alarmed doors that deny the teenagers' access to exterior circulation and social spaces. The author found educators embracing crime prevention through environmental design strategies to enforce a closed campus policy. The resulting educational environment, which prioritizes students' containment in order to secure sufficient attendance rates, leaves the teenagers feeling betrayed and untrusted.”

Elke Altenburger. 2023. “Alarm Will Sound: Student Perceptions of Risk-Free Space at School.”  Children, Youth and Environments, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 50-75, DOI: 10.1353/cye.2023.0000

Figueiro and Pedler review important issues related to circadian lighting.  They make wellbeing-enhancing suggestions: “Open the window shades in your home or office but be careful to avoid creating glare. . . . When sitting by a window, try to face it. . . . If you cannot work facing a window, add extra table or floor lamps next to your work area.  A do-it-yourself (DIY) circadian lighting device is another option. If you have access to windows, make sure the shades are open and that you are facing the window. . . . field work by our research team, for example, studied the effects of circadian-effective light exposures facilitated by electrochromic glass windows. . . . compared to participants living in apartments fitted with conventional glass windows and blinds, those in apartments fitted with electrochromic glass windows demonstrated greater circadian alignment, earlier and more regular sleep, and improved vitality and mental health.”

Mariana Figueiro and David Pedler. “Cardiovascular Disease and Lifestyle Choices:  Spotlight on Circadian Rhythms and Sleep.”  Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2023.02.004

Lauterbach and Kunze probe links between activity-based working and employee absenteeism.  They report that they studied “whether transitioning from cellular offices to an activity-based flexible office (A-FO) impacts employee absenteeism over time. . . . Using a sample of 2,017 white-collar workers tracked over 8 years, we quasi-experimentally investigated if absenteeism in the group with the office design intervention (1,035 individuals) differed from the control group (982 individuals). . . . [Statistical analyses] showed no difference in absenteeism between the intervention and control groups. However . . . long-term employees showed higher absenteeism when switching to an A-FO.”

Ann Lauterbach and Florian Kunze.  “A Quasi-Experimental Exploration of Activity-Based Flexible Office Design and Demographic Differences in Employee Absenteeism.”  Environment and Behavior, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/00139165231163549

Fjaestad and team’s work confirms that gardening is good for our mental health.  The researchers learned via data they collected from people 46 to 80 years old that “Compared to participants who did not engage in gardening, those who gardened for ≥150 min per week were more likely to report better mental wellbeing . . . and life satisfaction. . . . these effects were stronger for participants aged 64 years and older. These findings contribute to a burgeoning body of research that indicates gardening may be beneficial for mental health and life satisfaction, that gardening for at least 2.5 hrs per week is linked with better mental health outcomes, and that gardening may be particularly beneficial for older adults.”

Selma Fjaestad, Jessica Mackelprang, Takemi Sugiyama, Manoj Chandrabose, Neville Owen, Gavin Turrell, and Jonathan Kingsley.  2023. “Association of Time Spent Gardening with Mental Wellbeing and Life Satisfaction in Mi-to-Late Adulthood.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 87, 101993, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101993

Researchers have learned that artificial intelligence can effectively design cars.  A recent press release from MIT shares that “machine learning models can not only predict the appeal of new aesthetic designs but also generate designs that are aesthetically pleasing or aesthetically innovative. (And, once trained, the models can run on a standard corporate laptop.)”

Brian Eastwood.  2023. “Artificial Intelligence Can Help Design More Appealing Cars.” Press release, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/artificial-intelligence-can-help-design-more-appealing-cars