Latest Blog Posts

Techawachirakul and colleagues probed how sound can be used in branding; it is possible that their findings can also be applied more broadly.  The researchers found via a sound timbre-focused study of sound logos (sogos) that “low-pitched sounds . . . are linked more with ruggedness and masculinity (vs. feminine traits with high-pitched sounds). . . . sogos created using feminine instruments (flute, English horn, oboe, harp, and violin) that connote positive valence are matched with sincerity. . . . sogos created with masculine (vs. feminine) instruments are more associated with ruggedness. . . . Low-frequency sounds are consistent with larger objects . . . and largeness cues masculinity. . . . sogos created using feminine (vs. masculine) instruments were better matched to competence and excitement.” Tubas or French horns are more masculine instruments and flutes or oboes more feminine ones, for example.

Monin Techawachirakul, Abhishek Pathak, Kosuke Motoki, and Gemma Calvert.  2023. “Influencing Brand Personality with Sonic Logos:  The Role of Musical Timbre.”  Journal of Business Research, vol. 168, 114169, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114169

Vessel and team found that we prefer art that somehow seems relevant to our lives.  They learned that “an artwork’s aesthetic appeal depends strongly on self-relevance. . . .  [adults] rated aesthetic appeal for . . . artworks was positively predicted by rated self-relevance. . .  self-relevance is a key determinant of aesthetic appeal, independent of artistic skill and image features. . . . self-relevance [relates to] the extent to which something relates to a person’s self-schema: their self-perception, past experiences, and personal and social identity. . . This analysis confirms that artworks that related to aspects of an individual’s self-construct, such as specific autobiographical memories and identity, were rated as most appealing. . . . at least for artwork, resonance with one’s lived experience is of central importance for aesthetic appeal.”

Edward Vessel, Laura Pasqualette, Cem Uran, Sarah Koldehoff, Giacomo Bignardi, and Martin Vinck. 2023. “Self-Relevance Predicts the Aesthetic Appeal of Real and Synthetic Artworks Generated via Neural Style Transfer.”  Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976231188107

Arbuthnott’s work verifies the positive consequences of experiencing nature in some way.  Arbuthnott found via a literature review that “Nature exposure increases prosocial behavior, decreases antisocial behavior, and increases ratings of social connection and satisfaction. Prosocial and antisocial behavior effects are observed with brief nature exposure, both actual and virtual. Social connection effects are observed with long-term nature exposure, such as neighbourhood greenspace. . . .  As members of a social species, the quality of our interpersonal relationships and a general sense of connection to others are essential for overall health. Relationships influence both physical and mental health. . . . strong relationships reduce the risk of depression . . . and other mental illnesses. . . . Social health is as crucial to flourishing as are physical and mental health. . . . Prosocial behavior describes action that serves the needs of others, such as helpfulness, generosity, cooperation, and altruism. Antisocial behavior, conversely, harms other people and includes behaviors such as aggression and crime.”

Katherine Arbuthnott.  “Nature Exposure and Social Health:  Prosocial Behavior, Social Cohesion, and Effect Pathways.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102109

Research completed by Lehberger and Sparke confirms the psychological benefits of spending time gardening. Lehberger and Sparke “replicated a study conducted in 2020 in Germany, which focused on comparing garden owners and non-garden owners. Almost exactly one year after the original study in 2020, we collected matched data from . . . people living in Germany in 2021. We again found that garden owners had significantly greater life satisfaction and better mental well-being than non-garden owners. . . . garden owners spent substantially more time in their garden than non-garden owners spent in public green spaces. . . .  By pooling the data from 2020 to 2021, our . . .  analyses supported the main conclusion from the original study, i.e., garden owners' greater life satisfaction and better mental well-being were attributable to the differences between the groups in sociodemographic factors (e.g., higher income), time spent outside (e.g., longer hours), and personality traits (e.g., less neuroticism).”

Mira Lehberger and Kai Sparke.  “How Important Are Home Gardens and Spending Time Outside for Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic?  Comparing and Combining Data from 2020 to 2021.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102089

Overbury, Conroy, and Marks’ findings will not come as much of a surprise to anyone familiar with the research on biophilic design and on humans’ affinity for natural spaces.  The Overbury-lead group reports that their literature review determined that “Open water swimming may lead to improvements in mood and wellbeing, reductions in mental distress symptomatology, and was experienced as a positive, enriching process for many. Blue spaces involve embodiment, mindful presence, community and much more, offering for some a therapeutic accretion which sustains mental health and wellbeing across a lifetime. . . .  OWS can lead to improvement of mood, reduction of MH symptoms, and improved wellbeing. . . there was a clear finding that OWS allows connection with oneself, the water and others, and this was experienced as offering many benefits to MH and wellbeing, directly, indirectly, and reciprocally. It is interesting to note how a single experience – OWS – could incorporate so many factors known to support MH. . . . Everyday momentary experiences in blue spaces offer a refuge from daily life.”

K. Overbury, B. Conroy, and E. Marks. “Swimming in Nature:  A Scoping Review of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Benefits of Open Water Swimming.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102073

Lee, Chu, and Chang, via a study published in Journal of Marketing, found that physical distance to products influences our responses to them.  The researchers determined that “how far we’re standing from a product changes what we think of it. . . . Previous research has shown . . . that customers respond more favorably to premium brands when their logos are positioned high above the customer. . . . The authors find that premium brands—those associated with luxury, high price, and prestige—do indeed benefit from [physical] distance from the consumer, while popular brands—those associated with accessibility, value, and warmth—are perceived most favorably from up close. More broadly, the findings reveal that there’s no single, ideal distance between consumers and products:  the right distance depends on the image the brand conveys.” 

Susie Allen.  2022. “Does Distance Make the Consumer’s Heart Grow Fonder?” Kellogg Insight, https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/luxury-product-placement-distance

Researchers have determined that even relatively low volume traffic noise can degrade our cognitive performance.  Investigators learned that “as little as 40 decibels of traffic noise – the typical level of background noise in an office environment or kitchen – has a detrimental effect on cognitive performance. Researchers at Chalmers’ Division of Applied Acoustics have conducted a laboratory study in which test subjects took concentration tests while being exposed to background traffic noise. . . . subjects had significantly poorer results on the performance test, and also felt that the task was more difficult to carry out, with traffic noise in the background. . . . background noise consisted of two audio sequences simulating trucks passing by at a distance of ten and fifty metres. Both sequences were normalized to the same total indoor level of 40 dB. . . . The audio sequence simulating the closer passages, where the sound changes significantly as the vehicle passes by, was usually the one that bothered the test subjects the most.” 

“Even Weak Traffic Noise Has a Negative Impact on Work Performance.”  2023. Press release, Chalmers University of Technology, https://www.chalmers.se/en/current/news/ace-traffic-noise-impacts-performance/

Zhang and colleagues’ research confirms that humans communicate on multiple “channels” simultaneously, some of which are challenging to replicate in virtual situations.  The investigators report that they “presented video-clips of an actress producing naturalistic passages to participants while recording their electroencephalogram. We quantified multimodal cues (prosody, gestures, mouth movements) and measured their effect on a well-established electroencephalographic marker of processing load in comprehension (N400). We found that brain responses to words were affected by informativeness of co-occurring multimodal cues, indicating that comprehension relies on linguistic and non-linguistic cues. Moreover, they were affected by interactions between the multimodal cues, indicating that the impact of each cue dynamically changes based on the informativeness of other cues. Thus, results show that multimodal cues are integral to comprehension.”

Ye Zhang, Diego Frassinelli, Jyrki Tuomainen, Jeremy Skipper, and Gabriella Vigliocco.  2021. “More Than Words:  Word Predictability, Prosody, Gesture and Mouth Movements in Natural Language Comprehension.”  Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 288, no. 1955, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0500

Not all real or imagined interactions with nature are positive.  Researchers report in a study published in People and Nature that “internet searches indicate a growing prevalence of various biophobias across the world. Countries with larger urban populations show interest in a broader range of nature-related phobias, supporting the idea that urban living may be linked with fear and disgust towards nature. 

“Online Searches Point to Growing Prevalence of Nature-Related Phobias in Urban Populations.”  2023. Press release, University of Turku, https://www.utu.fi/en/news/press-release/online-searches-point-to-growing-prevalence-of-nature-related-phobias-in-urban

Anyone doing workplace research will be interested in a study done by Roh, Hasan, Esomonu, Hendricks, Benden, and Aggarwal, published in PLoS ONE.  The team learned that “employees really are less active and more prone to mistakes on afternoons and Fridays, with Friday afternoon representing the lowest point of worker productivity. . . . The researchers looked at the computer usage metrics of 789 in-office employees at a large energy company in Texas over a two-year [pre-pandemic] period.”

“Workers Are Less Productive and Make More Typos in the Afternoon- Especially on Fridays.”  2023. Press release, Texas A & M, https://today.tamu.edu/2023/08/02/workers-are-less-productive-and-make-more-typos-in-the-afternoon-especially-on-fridays/