place science

Time-Temperature Preferences (08-18-21)

Vellei  and colleagues studied how preferred air temperatures vary from one time of day to another.  They report that their efforts reveal “some evidence of a time-varying thermal perception by using: (1) data from about 10,000 connected Canadian thermostats made available as part of the ‘Donate Your Data' dataset and (2) about 22,000 samples of complete (objective + ‘right-here-right-now' subjective) thermal comfort field data from the ASHRAE I and SCATs datasets.

Taste Shape Links (08-17-21)

Motoki and Velasco researched links between shapes and flavors.  They found that “People associate tastes and visual shapes non-randomly. For example, round shapes are associated with sweet taste, while angular shapes are associated with sour and bitter tastes. Previous studies have focused on one-to-one taste-shape associations, where either geometrical shapes or shapes on a product’s packaging have been presented in isolation and evaluated separately. However, in real-life product displays, products are typically surrounded by other products.

Handwritten Fonts (08-16-21)

Izadi and Patrick studied responses to fonts that look like handwriting.  They report that “the use of handwritten fonts on product packaging elicits an approach tendency and enhances haptic engagement [touch], which influences product evaluation and choice likelihood. . . . Studies 1 and 2 use real products to show that a product label with a handwritten (vs. typewritten) font elicits haptic engagement and, enhanced product evaluations (Study 2). . . . . [this] effect is observed only for benign (safe and enjoyable) product categories, but not for risky (unsafe and dangerous) ones.

Density and Loneliness (08-13-21)

How are neighborhood residential density and loneliness related?  Lai and colleagues share that they used “high-resolution geospatial built environment exposure data to examine associations between residential density and loneliness and social isolation among 405,925 UK Biobank cohort participants. Residential unit density was measured within a 1- and 2-Km residential street network catchment of participant’s geocoded dwelling. . . .

Indoor Air Quality (08-12-21)

Licina and Langer compare indoor air quality and satisfaction in different contexts.  They report that they “quantitatively compared IAQ [indoor air quality] results before and after relocation to two WELL-certified office buildings using the same cohort of occupants. Physical measures included integrated samples of TVOC, individual VOC, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde, NO2, SO2, O3 and longitudinal records of CO2 and size-resolved particles. Complementary survey responses about satisfaction with IAQ and thermal comfort were collected. . . .

Urban Green Spaces (08-11-21)

Chang and colleagues continue research into the implications of experiencing natural environments.  They report that “viewing green urban landscapes that vary in terms of green-space density elicits corresponding changes in the activity of the human ventral posterior cingulate cortex that is correlated to behavioural stress-related responses. . . . these findings raise a therapeutic potential for natural environmental exposure.. .

Willingness to Commute (08-10-21)

Ruger, Stawarz, Skora, and Wiernik studied individuals’ willingness to commute and their findings have implications for locating both homes and workplaces.   The researchers report that  “We use unique longitudinal data from four European countries – Germany, France, Spain, and Switzerland – to examine the relationship between individual level willingness to commute long distances (i.e. at least 60 min one-way) and actual commuting behavior. . .

Experiencing Music (08-09-21)

De Fleurian and Pearce studied the implications of  specific aspects of musical experiences and it seems likely that their findings can be extended to soundscaping generally.  The researchers report that “Chills experienced in response to music listening have been linked to both happiness and sadness expressed by music. . . . we conducted a computational analysis on a corpus of 988 tracks previously reported to elicit chills, by comparing them with a control set of tracks matched by artist, duration, and popularity. We analysed track-level audio features . . .

Spaces for Creative Thought (08-06-21)

Needle and Mallia probe the sorts of workplaces that support creative employees.  They report that  “Open-office plans have become the dominant mode for creative workplaces, designed to encourage collaboration. . . .This . . . study surveys . . . people working in advertising and the creative industries, assessing perceptions of productivity and satisfaction with work environment A majority of respondents yearned for solitude to complete certain tasks.

Uppercase, Lowercase (08-05-21)

Research completed by Tengand colleagues confirms that fonts used in logos matter.  The investigators determined that “A substantial body of research suggests that letter cases (uppercase and lowercase) impact consumers’ perceptions. . . . this research has verified that brands with [all] uppercase logos can make consumers sense more competence and brands with [all] lowercase logos can lead consumers to perceive more warmth. . . . For consumers with high (vs. low) power distance belief, an uppercase (vs. lowercase) brand logo leads consumers to perceive more competence (vs.

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