Biophilic, DEI Design
Welcoming, de-stressing all users
Welcoming, de-stressing all users
Generating needed results
Gungormus and colleagues identified an intriguing implication of planting trees, literally. They share that “Sensory stimulation has shown the capacity to modulate pain mechanisms. . . . A single-group, pretest-posttest clinical trial was used. . . . healthy adults performed an afforestation activity for 90 minutes. . . . results showed significant reductions in the cold pain intensity at the moment of detection . . . mechanical pain sensitivity . . . and increases in the thresholds of pressure pain detection . . . and tolerance. . . .
Sleboda and team’s work indicate how important word choices can be and their findings are likely applicable generally in designed situations. The group reports that they collected data as “Participants chose between one gourmet food gift basket without meat and dairy and another with meat and dairy. . . . the gourmet food gift basket without meat and dairy was less likely to be chosen when its label focused on its content (stating ‘vegan’ or ‘plant-based’) rather than on its benefits (stating ‘healthy’, ‘sustainable’ or both).
Zushi’s team’s research can likely be extended from tasting substances to other sensory experiences. They share that “Prior research indicate that emotional states can alter taste perception, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. . . . The first experiment investigated how anxiety affects taste perception when individuals are aware of their anxiety. Participants watched videos inducing relaxation or anxiety, then were divided into groups focusing on their emotions and those who did not, and the taste perception was measure.
Cytowic’s work is an interesting introduction to synesthesia, particularly for people interested in the full range of possible sensory experiences. As Cytowic shares “Synesthesia has already caused a paradigm shift in two senses. For science, it has forced a fundamental rethinking about how brains are organized. It is now beyond dispute that cross talk happens in all brains; synesthetes just have more of it that takes place in existing circuits. The other paradigm shift lies within each individual. What synesthesia shows is that not everyone sees the world as you do. . . .
Views across indoor spaces and from one area inside to another have a powerful influence on how we think and on how we behave. Neuroscience research findings streamline the process of creating compelling, useful, design-goal-achieving sightlines.
Findings presented during several sessions at the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture’s (ANFA’s) 2023 conference can potentially be applied in practice.
Critical points, needed now
Aligning goals and situations