Latest Blog Posts

Sadeghi and colleagues link feeling crowded to believing that time is passing more slowly than it actually is.  They report that they learned via having people take a virtual subway ride that “increased crowding decreased pleasantness and increased the unpleasantness of a trip. Virtual crowding also lengthened perceived trip duration.”

Saeedeh Sadeghi, Ricardo Daziano, So-Yeon Yoon and Adam Anderson.  2022. “Affective Experience in a Virtual Crowd Regulates Perceived Travel Time.”  Virtual Reality, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10055-022-00713-8

Burro recently lead a study linking personality and preferences for various wines; it is possible that this team’s findings are applicable more broadly (but can be useful for planning end-of-year parties, regardless).  The researchers determined that “extroverts prefer more acidic wines, sociable people like wines characterized by a high alcohol content and with a more complex bouquet, people with high emotional stability prefer tannic, persistent, full-bodied wines and open-minded people favor wines with a persistent flavor and high levels of tannicity but are sapidity averse.”

Roberto Burro, Erika Branchini, Elena Capitani, Veronica Barnaba, Arianna Fermani, Carita Paradis, and Ivana Bianchi.  “Is There an Association Between Consumers’ Personality Traits and the Sensory Characteristics They Look for in Wine?”  Food Quality and Preference, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104767

Dang and team studied how people spend time on green roofs.  They report that their research focused on a green roof space in Sydney, Australia which included “a garden, a concrete open space and a raised grass area amounting to 1,200 m2, [that] is above parts of the university’s library and classrooms, and is easily accessible by staff, students, and members of the public. . . . users, most commonly, relaxed or socialised on the green roof, with exercise a far less frequent activity. Further, those who frequented the green roof once a week or more reported significantly greater social well-being and attachment to place than those who visited less. Likewise, those who visited the green roof for periods of 30 min or more also reported greater social wellbeing. . . . [so] green roofs have similar social and place-attachment benefits to those observed of green spaces in the literature. Given that green roofs can fit in places that parks or other open spaces often cannot, their implementation should be encouraged to promote social well-being.”

Hoai-Anh Dang, Rupert Legg, Aila Khan, Sara Wilkinson, Nicole Ibbett, and Ahn-Tuan Doan.  2022. “Social Impact of Green Roofs.”  Frontiers in Built Environments, https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2022.1047335

A study published in the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (Diabetologia) will support better management of outdoor artificial light at night (LAN) and actions such as using black-out curtains in bedrooms. Yu and colleagues determined that LAN “is associated with impaired blood glucose control and an increased risk of diabetes. . . . The intensity of urban light pollution has increased to the point that it not only affects residents of big cities, but also those in distant areas such as suburbs and forest parks that may be hundreds of kilometres from the light source. . . . A study of night-shift workers found that those exposed to brighter LAN were more likely to have disrupted circadian rhythms, as well as a greater risk of coronary heart disease. Other research found that higher LAN exposure was associated with a 13% and 22% increase in the likelihood of being overweight and obese, respectively, while exposure to LAN in the bedroom was reported to be positively associated with the development of diabetes in elderly people.”

“New Study Reveals That Exposure to Outdoor Artificial Light at Night is Associated with an Increased Risk of Diabetes.”  2022.  Press release, Diabetologia, https://diabetologia-journal.org/2022/11/15/new-study-reveals-that-exposure-to-outdoor-artificial-light-at-night-is-associated-with-an-increased-risk-of-diabetes/

Recent research elevates our understanding of olfactory experiences.  A project lead by Hörberg and published in Cognitive Science established that “Most languages lack a specialized vocabulary to describe smell experiences. People instead use words from other domains, such as ‘heavy’, ‘good’ or ‘fruity’, when talking about smells. But which words are really used and how do they relate to each other? This has been answered for English by researchers at Stockholm University. . . . ‘Our research shows that English smell words mainly distinguish between pleasant and unpleasant smells, on the one hand, and smells of edible and non-edible things, on the other. The smell words can be divided into words that describe offensive, malodorous, fragrant and ‘edible’ smells”, says Thomas Hörberg. . . . ‘This type of identification and division of words that describe smells can be of great use in the food and perfume industry, for example. These fields need standardized vocabularies to be able to describe and categorize smells and tastes’, says Thomas Hörberg.”

“Smell Words Differ Primarily in Terms of Pleasantness and Edibility.”  2022. Press release, Stockholm University, https://www.su.se/english/news/smell-words-differ-primarily-in-terms-of…

Annette and Stafford enrich our knowledge of how surface colors influence perceived tastes. The duo report that “Picky eating is characterized by a limited intake and avoidance of foods. . . . In the study here, we aimed to examine whether colour influences perception of food in picky eaters. Participants . . . sampled the same snack served in three different coloured (red, blue, white) bowls. Results revealed that both the perceived saltiness and desirability of the snack were influenced by colour in the Picky but not Non-Picky Eaters. Specifically, the snack was rated as higher in saltiness in the red and blue versus white bowl condition and least desirable when served in the red bowl.”

Madison Annette and Lorenzo Stafford.  2023. “How Colour Influences Taste Perception in Adult Picky Eaters.”  Food Quality and Preference, vol. 105, 104763, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104763

Bellezza researched how individuals can signal their social status.  She reports that “In the past decades, as traditional luxury goods and conspicuous consumption have become more mainstream and lost some of their signaling value, new alternative signals of status (e.g., vintage, inconspicuous consumption, ugly luxury) have progressively emerged. This research . . . establish[es] a novel framework that systematically unifies existing conceptualizations, findings, and observations on alternative signals of status. The proposed framework organizes alternative signals in terms of their distance from traditional status symbols and categorizes them along six focal dimensions: time (new/old), quantity (many possessions/few possessions), conspicuousness (conspicuous/inconspicuous), aesthetics (beautiful/ugly), culture (highbrow/lowbrow), and pace of life (slow/fast).”

Silvia Bellezza.  “Distance and Alternative Signals of Status:  A Unifying Framework.”  Journal of Consumer Research, in press, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucac049

Donovan and colleagues link increased numbers of trees in an area and lower death rates there.  They share that they “used a natural experiment to assess the impact of 30 years of tree planting . . . on non-accidental, cardiovascular, lower-respiratory, and accidental mortality in Portland, Oregon. . . . Each tree planted in the preceding 15 years was associated with significant reductions in non-accidental . . . and cardiovascular mortality. . . . the dose–response association between tree planting and non-accidental mortality increased in magnitude as trees aged and grew.” So, as trees got older they had a bigger effect on reducing mortality.  The researchers also report that “planting a tree in each of Portland’s 140 Census tracts would generate $14.2 million in annual benefits. . . . the annual cost of maintaining 140 trees would be $2,716–$13,720.” 

Geoffrey Donovan, Jeffrey Prestemon, Demetrios Gatziolis, Yvonne Michael, Abigail Kaminski, and Payam Dadvand.  2022. “The Association Between Tree Planting and Mortality:  A Natural Experiment and Cost-Benefit Analysis.”  Environment International, vol. 170, 107609, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107609

Barron and Rugel argue that greenspace planning needs to better reflect the usage-related needs of young adults.  The pair state that “The voices of young adults (15−24) ring faintly in the conversation around nature-based solutions (NBS). . . . NBS clearly shape young adults — including their connections with nature, engagement in pro-environmental behaviours, and social and psychological health — but the dramatic reshaping of urban areas via rapid growth, densification, and technological innovation means today’s young adults have fewer opportunities to benefit from NBS. In a potentially vicious cycle, this shortfall can result in a weakened sense of connection with nature, leading to less time spent in natural environments and fewer sustainable behaviours. Achieving justice for young adults requires understanding their preferences, clarifying relationships between NBS characteristics and use.”  Their paper presents “an appraisal framework comprising three primary attributes — order, diversity, and [opportunities for] seclusion and retreat — that supports the design and integration of urban greenspaces that uniquely benefit young adults’ social development and mental health.” Spaces have order when they appear well maintained and safe and diversity when they support a range of plant life and activities.

Sara Barron and Emily Rugel.  2023. “Tolerant Greenspaces: Designing Urban Nature-Based Solutions that Foster Social Ties and Support Mental Health Among Young Adults.” Environmental Science and Policy, vol. 139, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.10.005

Verdugo and teammates’ work highlights previously unreported ramifications of having selected something over something else.  They share that they “designed a task in which healthy participants saw two lotteries on each trial. On some trials, participants chose which lottery to play. On other trials, the lottery was selected for them. Participants then indicated their curiosity about the outcome of the to-be-played lottery via self-report ratings . . . or willingness-to-wait decisions. . . . We found that participants exhibited higher curiosity ratings and greater willingness to wait for the outcome of lotteries they had chosen than for lotteries that had been selected for them (controlling for initial preference). This demonstrates that choice boosts curiosity, which may have implications for boosting learning, memory, and motivation.”

Patricia Verdugo, Lieke van Lieshout, Floris De Lange, and Roshan Cools.  “Choice Boosts Curiosity.”  Psychological Science, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221082637