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Fractals in architecture: The visual interest, preference, and mood response to projected fractal light patterns in interior spaces
Abstract
The visual patterns of fractal stimuli on a computer screen and the brightness patterns of light projected onto room
surfaces have independently been shown to influence human perceptual responses. It is not clear, however, what
effect would result if the same fractal patterns were projected as light patterns on room surfaces. This paper reports on
the results of three studies investigating visual interest, visual preference, and mood responses elicited by varying
complexities of fractal light patterns projected on walls and floors of an interior space. The results suggest that fractal
light patterns of medium to medium-high complexity (quantified by the fractal dimension D=1.5-1.7) were significantly
more visually interesting than other patterns. Crucially, viewing distance did not significantly influence visual interest or
visual preference. Based on these studies, the use of medium to medium-high complexity fractal light patterns in
interior spaces may be useful for enhancing occupants’ visual interest and mood.
... Specifically, patterns with high degrees of symmetry elicited the greatest D preferences, and it is assumed that the associated order boosts the observer's tolerance for fractal complexity. This concept of complexity tolerance is further substantiated by recent experiments that projected statistical fractal images on walls instead of displaying them on computer monitors, as was the case in the bulk of initial experiments (Abboushi, Elzeyadi, Taylor, & Sereno, 2019). The observer then distinguishes the fractal pattern embedded within a blank wall. ...
... Thus, it is imperative to assess the viability of employing fractal patterns in interior spaces, where people spend most of their time (Klepeis, et al., 2001). Building on previous reviews in environmental psychology (Abboushi, et al., 2019;Chamilothori, Wienold, Moscoso, Matusiak, & Andersen, 2022), visual interest and preference for patterns in interior spaces can be conceptualized as the outcome of direct and interactive effects among several variables, including (a) pattern type, (b) pattern complexity, (c) the medium used to exhibit the patterns, and (d) spatial variables. This conceptualization is applied in the current study, considering the effects on visual preference and stress relief for fractal patterns in interior spaces. ...
... The meeting room dimensions are based on the universal building ratios in China and could be expanded to meet usage requirements. Moreover, fractal variables could be manipulated to identify commonalities in Sierpinski triangle pattern responses to other fractals (Abboushi, et al., 2019;Bies et al., 2016;Hägerhäll et al., 2015) and estimate the effects of the design strategy. ...
Diffusive surfaces should be optimally designed for acoustic and aesthetic purposes. Fractals are commonly used to adapt to the parametric demands of interface design combining mathematical calculation and artistic creation. The author’s previous study proposed an improved fractal acoustic structure based on the Sierpinski-triangle building rule. However, there is insufficient research on quantifying the physiological and visual benefits of such fractal features. Focusing on fractal iteration and randomness of module arrangement as fractal parameters, this study investigates in 3D-virtual reality meeting rooms and identifies the influence of fractal diffusion structures on visual preferences and physiological responses. Variance analysis is used to construct models of fractal parameters, subjective preference factors, and physiological indicators. Results suggest that the Sierpinski-triangle pattern iterated twice with mid-high complexity (quantified by the fractal dimension D = 1.58) is significantly more visually preferred than other fractals. When the modules are at low randomness (quantified by P = 0.25), more random module arrangements elicited better beneficial outcomes. However, as the degree of randomness increased, effects became increasingly irregular. Subjective evaluation factors and physiological indicators show a strong correlation. To sum up, the use of the medium to mid-high complexity fractals in interior spaces would help enhance the visual preferences and stress relief of occupants.
... Its central objective is to foster a profound connection with nature, enhancing emotional and psychological well-being within these spaces (Kellert, 2018, p. 15). Empirical research has indeed provided robust evidence linking biophilic experiences with improved human health and well-being (Abboushi et al., 2019). A compelling explanation for the observed health advantages of biophilic environments is provided by attention restoration theory (ART), which suggests that by being immersed in environments that either directly or subtly echo natural features, individuals can more efficiently recuperate from the mental exhaustion, stress and fatigue caused by the excessive use of focused/voluntary Balancing complexity and restoration attention in the modern world (Hartig et al., 2014;Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989). ...
... Most fractals can be grouped into low (D 5 1.10 to 1.29), medium (D 5 1.30 to 1.49) or high (D 5 1.50 to 1.90) Figure 1. Images that exemplify organized complexity in design Balancing complexity and restoration complexity levels based on their D value (Abboushi et al., 2019;Taylor and Spehar, 2016). Previous studies have found that people tend to have the strongest aesthetic preference for fractals with a medium-D value, regardless of their exact pattern or implementation format; interestingly, the majority of fractals that occur in biological growth also fall within this same range (H€ agerh€ all et al., 2015;Salingaros, 2012;Smith et al., 2020;Taylor, 2021, p. 5). ...
... Empirical studies on the human impacts of organized complexity in design are rather sparse. There is a fairly robust literature on general complexity and specifically on the use of fractals in design, which has focused primarily on ascertaining how much complexity is optimal in inciting positive human reactions (for example, Abboushi et al., 2019;H€ agerh€ all et al., 2015;Taylor and Spehar, 2016). However, these studies do not consider the amount of organization vs. randomness that is associated with the increasing complexity; and the designs they evaluated were not based on specific organized complexity strategies, such as the simultaneous use of multiple types of patterns, the use of symmetry and scaling to define spatial relationships, the variation of elements in different sub-spaces, drawing visual inspiration from natural environments and so forth (Kellert, 2018;. ...
Purpose
There is a growing interest in applying the principles of biophilic design to hotel lobbies to enhance positive user experiences. However, there is little empirical research in this area, particularly for abstract or indirect biophilic approaches. The current study analyzed the biophilic strategy of “organized complexity” (which entails structured hierarchical patterns) in a hotel lobby in relation to attention restoration outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A virtual reality approach was used to create three lobby designs, differing only in their degree of organized complexity. A between-subjects study was conducted with 91 participants, evaluating reactions to the lobby designs in terms of perceived attention restoration, perceived environmental complexity and environmental preferences.
Findings
A strong positive relationship was found between participants' perception of environmental complexity and feelings of restoration. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between restoration and the objective measures of organized complexity. This suggests that individual preferences or baseline responses may play a crucial role in the benefits associated with this aspect of biophilic design.
Originality/value
The findings suggest a novel possibility – that responses to organized complexity may not be universal but may instead depend on an individual’s background and personal preferences. While the study found that perceived complexity was associated with restoration, the objective features of the environment that incited these perceptions were different for different participants. This indicates that more research is needed into potentially relevant personal factors.
... Objective pattern complexity results from variations in the relative coarse-to-fine pattern structure determined by internal pattern factors such as variations in recursion (number of repetitions across scales) and complexity of fractal dimension "D-value" (the rate of pattern shrinkage between repetitions to quantify the ratio of fine structure). Perceived pattern complexity also constrains broader pattern judgments (Abboushi et al., 2019;Robles et al., 2021). Selection of optimal fractal features expands beyond observed improvements to esthetic experiences of a given object, to facilitate viewer cognition and performance on a wide span of tasks (Juliani et al., 2016;Taylor et al., 2018;Abboushi et al., 2019;Roe et al., 2020;Spehar and Stevanov, 2021). ...
... Perceived pattern complexity also constrains broader pattern judgments (Abboushi et al., 2019;Robles et al., 2021). Selection of optimal fractal features expands beyond observed improvements to esthetic experiences of a given object, to facilitate viewer cognition and performance on a wide span of tasks (Juliani et al., 2016;Taylor et al., 2018;Abboushi et al., 2019;Roe et al., 2020;Spehar and Stevanov, 2021). ...
... The current study investigates the influence of pattern structure on observer experiences, specifically how internal composition (with the presence or absence of fractal organization) and external context (with the presence or absence of surrounding Euclidean configuration) alter well-established trends in fractal perception (Abboushi et al., 2019;Robles et al., 2021). In the first ever study to compare ratings of fractal images to corresponding statistically matched nonfractal patterns, unipolar ratings are collected across a broad range of experiential measurements to isolate the impact of fractal structure on predictable viewer experience. ...
Imbuing the benefits of natural design into humanmade spaces, installations of fractal patterns have been employed to shape occupant experience. Previous work has demonstrated consistent trends for fractal judgments in the presence of design elements. The current study identifies the extent to which underlying pattern structure and perceptions of pattern complexity drive viewer judgments, and how response trends are altered with the incorporation of Euclidean context reminiscent of indoor spaces. This series of studies first establishes that pattern appeal, interest, naturalness, and relaxation have a fundamentally inverse relationship with perceptions of pattern complexity and that the presence of fractal structure contributes uniquely and positively to pattern perception. Subsequently, the addition of Euclidean structure establishes a discrete pattern boundary that alters fractal perceptions of interest and excitement but not the remaining judgments. The presence of consistent subpopulations, particularly those that contradict overarching perceptual trends is supported across studies, and further emphasizes the importance of adjusting pattern selection to consider the greatest number of possible viewers. Through informed pattern selection, designs can be installed to maximize desired experience of a space while minimizing negative impressions bound to arise in a minority of occupants. This set of studies demonstrates that through control of perceived pattern complexity and whether an emphasis is placed on pattern boundaries, fractal patterns can serve to establish predictable experiences of humanmade spaces in order to inject the benefits of nature into manufactured environments.
... Alexander's pattern 223 (deep reveals) enhanced the importance to set the window deep into the wall to soften light around the edge (Alexander et al. 1978). Daylighting or sunlight through the window will give rise to varying intensities of light and shadow that change over time (Abboushi et al. 2019;Salingaros 2015). ...
... For the biophilic design, the organized complexity reflected by symmetries and fractal geometries in architectures (like the window subdivision) can create a visually nourishing environment that engenders a positive psychological or cognitive response (Salingaros 2012). Abboushi et al. (2019) presented an interesting experiment focusing on the factual patterns composed of light and shadow produced by side windows. It has found that the window and shading device may enhance occupants' visual interest and mood through the generation of medium to medium-high complexity fractal light patterns in interior spaces (Abboushi et al. 2019). ...
... Abboushi et al. (2019) presented an interesting experiment focusing on the factual patterns composed of light and shadow produced by side windows. It has found that the window and shading device may enhance occupants' visual interest and mood through the generation of medium to medium-high complexity fractal light patterns in interior spaces (Abboushi et al. 2019). ...
This study conducted a psychological experiment to test if there are differences of visual preference between 18 Chinese vernacular windows, and which biophilic factors can substantially affect the preference. The experiment recruited 95 Chinese adults to rate images of these windows on three biophilic qualities (perceived shape complexity, biomorphic form, fascination) and the visual preference. To summarize, the achieved results exposed some interesting findings. (1) Effects of window shapes on visual preference were significant, whereas geometric properties of these windows, such as the ratio of height-to-width and compactness, cannot deliver significant impact on the preference. (2) The visual preference for these windows with both urban and nature views was positively correlated with the three biophilic factors. (3) There was no association between perceived shape complexity and visual preference of windows without any views. (4) Apart from the rectangular window, the visual preference for these windows received no significant effects from the view.
... Unfortunately, people are surrounded by urban landscapes and risk becoming disconnected from the relaxing qualities of Nature's fractals. To this end, designers and architects should address the individual's need to be exposed to the restorative qualities of Nature by creating fractal designs and architecture, in particular mid-D fractals (Abboushi et al., 2019): the visual information of mid-D fractals is easy to process, and fractal fluency is accompanied by a powerful aesthetic experience. In fact, the fractal qualities of the visual environment either encourage or discourage movement and navigation in urban spaces; this effect is responsible for feeling "at ease" in an urban environment. ...
... The software does not recognize plants or natural scenery per se but works strictly on the geometrical characteristics of the image. Natural scenery, and plants in particular, are characterized by a midrange fractality (Abboushi et al., 2019). Altogether, the brain's recognition mechanism for biophilic design relies upon very similar mathematical cues as those programmed into the VAS software (Salingaros and Sussmann, 2020). ...
... It is important to recall that the perceived visual complexity of a fractal is determined by the contribution of fine-scale structure, with more ordered fine structure generating higher complexity. This complexity is determined by the D value (the fractal dimension), which controls the ratio between fine and coarse structure, and by the range of scales over which the fractal is observed; increasing this range increases one measure of the visual complexity (for more details see Abboushi et al., 2019;Salingaros, 2018). VAS is an attempt to verify the inherent structure of environmental stimuli which are supposed to engage pre-attentive process, i.e., the "scene structure" (see also Lavdas, Salingaros and Sussman, 2021), going beyond the debate between process and content. ...
Citation: Berto, R., Barbiero, G., and Salingaros, N.A. (2022) Biophilic design of building façades from an Evolutionary Psychology framework: Visual Attention Software compared to Perceived Restorativeness. Visions for Sustainability, 18, 7054, 1-34. http://dx.
... Seven articles concerning daylight involved multiple spatial functions, such as school, gallery and pavilion. Classrooms were investigated by four articles [33][34][35][36].Conference rooms [31,37,38] and stores [29,39,40] were both examined by three articles. Other spatial functions, including living rooms [41,42], concert halls [43,44] or study rooms [45], were explored by only two or one articles. ...
... [51] window shapes of rectangular, vertical, round, horizontal, square, window-wall and windowless [52,54] window sizes of small, medium and large [33,34] in the sun patch, on the boundary of the sun patch, 4ft or 8 ft away from the sun patch Spatial features [52,54] [49] faç ade designs of horizontal louvers, vertical louvers, recessed punch, random punch, mesh and voronoi [82] regular-shaped windows and typical horizontal metal venetian blinds, the external colorful silk-printed patterns and semi-transparent internal roller blinds [47] sunlight patterns of a fractal pattern, a striped pattern and no pattern [35] four degrees of statistical fractal patterns, a rectangular and a striped pattern [83] white venetian blinds, highreflecting blinds, hybrid light shelf and mirror light shelf [84] six shading designs with a perforation ratio of 40% an overcast sky, a clear sky with high sun angle and a clear sky with low sun angle [83] an overcast sky and a clear sky Measures [28] mean Eh varying between 265 lx and 869 lx [36] Eh between 18 lx and 6512 lx, Ev varying between 9 lx and 3097 lx [50, 81] low, medium and high spatial contrast defined by the spatial contrast [48] IM and ISD ...
... However, Abboushi and colleagues found conflicting subjective attitudes towards similar aperture patterns by employing different research methods. When projecting the aperture patterns to the projection wall in the lecture hall, Abboushi and colleagues found that the fractal patterns were rated as more interesting [35]; When mounting the black films of the same aperture patterns on the windows in the office, they found negative influence of the fractal patterns on view quality [47,85]. That means, the aperture designs obtaining subjective positive evaluations in a laboratory experiement cannot be directly applied to the real world without a double-check field study. ...
Indoor lighting quality influences both physical and psychological aspects. Although reviews concerning lighting psychical influences continue being updated, few reviews concerning lighting psychological influences are in the literature. This paper presents a comprehensive and thorough analysis of 64 articles (1973–July 2022) regarding both artificial lighting and daylighting influences on subjective responses to lighting impressions and mood states. First, this review categorizes the methods adopted by these selected studies for collecting subjective data and identifies the lighting design parameters and measures used in these studies. Second, this review analyzes the findings on the following four aspects: 1) artificial lighting effects; 2) daylighting effects; 3) non-design variables, and 4) insignificant effects. Among the reviewed studies, there is a lack of consensus on lighting effects upon subjective lighting impressions and mood states in two aspects: significant or insignificant lighting effects as well as positive or negative influences. In addition to individual differences and experiment design, image-based simulations and sample size are two factors that require extra considerations in lighting research.
... In the last years, a number of studies have investigated the impact of façade design on occupants. Experiments in simulated environments have shown significant effects of façade and daylight patterns on subjective impressions, such as reported visual interest, pleasantness, and excitement (Abboushi et al. 2019;Chamilothori et al. 2019aChamilothori et al. , 2016, as well as on the heart rate of participants (Chamilothori et al. 2019a). Studies that employed similar façade variations in real environments, however, show inconsistent results when compared with the outcomes of the equivalent experiments in virtual environments, an outcome that might be caused by the changing lighting conditions Elzeyadi 2018a, 2018b;Abboushi et al. 2020). ...
... The present study employed dependent variables that regard both affective appraisals (i.e., how exciting or interesting the space is perceived, hereby named "perceptual impressions") and room appraisals (i.e., how bright or spacious the space is perceived, hereby named "visual appearance"), following existing studies on the perception of daylit scenes (Cauwerts 2013;Rockcastle and Andersen 2014;Rockcastle et al. 2017b). Specifically, the perceptual impressions of the space concern how pleasant, interesting, exciting, or calming the space is perceived, attributes which have been widely used to examine the effects of both daylit spaces (Cauwerts 2013;Chinazzo et al. 2021;Rockcastle et al. 2017aRockcastle et al. , 2017b Regarding the visual appearance of the scene, we examined the level of perceived complexity, an attribute which has been directly linked to the perceptual effects of façade design (Abboushi et al. 2019;Chamilothori et al. 2019aChamilothori et al. , 2016Omidfar et al. 2015) and has also been demonstrated to be adequately represented in immersive virtual reality (Abd-Alhamid et al. 2019; Chamilothori 2019; Chamilothori et al. 2019b). Lastly, we examine the perceived brightness, spaciousness, and level of satisfaction with the amount of view in the space, attributes which have been shown to be affected by the design of openings in a space (Franz et al. 2005;Matusiak 2006;Ozdemir 2010;Stamps 2010). ...
... s, SD = 38.6 s). While this duration of exposure is common for the collection of immediate subjective responses to a daylit environment (Abboushi et al. 2019;Cauwerts 2013), it limits the generalizability of the findings to cases of longer exposure. As such, the experimental findings of this study can be applied to conditions with equivalent duration of exposure time. ...
While there is a growing use of complex façade designs in contemporary architecture worldwide and across Europe, little is known about the perceptual effects of these façades and the resulting daylight patterns on occupants, or about how such effects might differ between European latitudes. This study examines the perception of façade and daylight patterns across Europe by replicating a virtual reality (VR) experiment in Norway, Switzerland and Greece, using a mixed experimental design to jointly investigate the influence of different factors on the perception of a daylit interior space. These factors included: façade geometry (within-subject factor with four contemporary façade designs of equal aperture ratio), sky type (clear sky with high or low sun angle, or overcast sky), spatial context (socializing or working), and country (Norway, Switzerland, or Greece). Results showed that, among the manipulated factors, only the façade geometry affected the studied attributes (how pleasant, interesting, exciting, calming, complex, spacious, and bright the space was perceived, and the satisfaction with the amount of view in the space). Regional effects were observed only for reported brightness, with higher evaluations from participants in Greece than in Norway, but are difficult to generalize due to limitations stemming from the use of VR and the conduction of experiments in different seasons (summer and early fall) in the two countries. These findings show that façade design is a crucial feature in our spatial experience, inducing equivalent perceptual effects, such as changes in pleasantness or interest, across Europe, and motivate further research on the perception of brightness.
... Numerous methods were employed to measure the complexity of visual images, i.e., the size of image files [24], the compression rate of image files [25], entropy [26], color hue variation [27], and fractal dimension [28], to name a few. Among them, fractal dimension has been proven to have a significant correlation with human visual cognition [29,30]. Fractal dimension is a statistical parameter in the theory of fractal geometry [31], it measures how complex a pattern is, in another word, the space-filling ability of the pattern. ...
... In previous FDT-based studies, the fractal dimension of different scenarios in the built environment often falls into the interval of 1.0-2.0. the intervals between 1.0-1.3 and 1.3-1.5 are defined as the low-to-mid level, where the scenarios can be seen as 'well-recognized' and 'better for goal-directed navigation' [34,52]. Meanwhile, the interval beyond 1.5 is defined as mid-to-high level, where the scenarios can be seen as 'arousing' and 'exciting' [29]. Therefore, this study set the fractal dimension value 1.5 as the division point to distinguish the 'high-texture' and 'low-texture' scenarios in FDT (y-axis in the Figure 2). ...
... There were four images chosen from two gardens to demonstrate the performance of In previous FDT-based studies, the fractal dimension of different scenarios in the built environment often falls into the interval of 1.0-2.0. the intervals between 1.0-1.3 and 1.3-1.5 are defined as the low-to-mid level, where the scenarios can be seen as 'wellrecognized' and 'better for goal-directed navigation' [34,52]. Meanwhile, the interval beyond 1.5 is defined as mid-to-high level, where the scenarios can be seen as 'arousing' and 'exciting' [29]. Therefore, this study set the fractal dimension value 1.5 as the division point to distinguish the 'high-texture' and 'low-texture' scenarios in FDT (y-axis in the Figure 2). ...
In this study, a fractal dimension-based method has been developed to compute the visual complexity of the heterogeneity in the built environment. The built environment is a very complex combination, structurally consisting of both natural and artificial elements. Its fractal dimension computation is often disturbed by the homogenous visual redundancy, which is textured but needs less attention to process, so that it leads to a pseudo-evaluation of visual complexity in the built environment. Based on human visual perception, the study developed a method: fractal dimension of heterogeneity in the built environment, which includes Potts segmentation and Canny edge detection as image preprocessing procedure and fractal dimension as computation procedure. This proposed method effectively extracts perceptually meaningful edge structures in the visual image and computes its visual complexity which is consistent with human visual characteristics. In addition, an evaluation system combining the proposed method and the traditional method has been established to classify and assess the visual complexity of the scenario more comprehensively. Two different gardens had been computed and analyzed to demonstrate that the proposed method and the evaluation system provide a robust and accurate way to measure the visual complexity in the built environment.
... The overall score had the potential to increase if indirect use and incorporating natural patterns and fractals were more considered. Positive impact achieved by the use of nature representations and fractals is well established in other studies (Abboushi et al., 2019;Aburas et al., 2017). If this was used as a self-assessment during the early designing stage, this may have been identified and addressed in the design proposal. ...
... Source: ST2-Reflective design portfolio -Sustainable architecture research studio, Mangola cut visible aquaponic system in elevation and detail. Source: ST2-Reflective design portfolio -Sustainable architecture research studio, 2020(Abboushi et al., 2019). ...
... To illustrate, Abboushi and colleagues (2018) found that when fractal images were projected on room surfaces, such as walls, instead of being displayed on a computer monitor, images with medium to medium-high fractal complexity (D: 1.5-1.7) were preferred [24]. ...
... Abboushi and colleagues' research (2018) also confirmed that the participants' preference shifted from medium to medium-high fractal complexity (D: 1.5-1.7) when fractal images as light-shadow patterns are projected on room surfaces [24]. These results suggest that applying low fractal complexity would be beneficial in spaces where the users desire to relax; however, medium to medium-high fractal complexity can be used to make the space appear more interesting. ...
A fractal, a self-similar organic or geometric pattern that repeats at varying scales, is one of the most compelling characteristics found in nature. Previous studies on fractal patterns have demonstrated consistent trends in potential psychological benefits, such as stress reduction. However, we fall short of understanding one of the essential properties of fractals found in nature, i.e., the three-dimensionality of their appearance. In this study, we aimed at understanding the role of the three-dimensionalization of fractal patterns in spatial structures on human subjective perceptual experience. Two hundred seventy three-dimensional spatial prototype models were created for this study, spanning two dimensions: (1) the application of spatial depth (shallow; medium; deep) and (2) fractal complexity (low; medium; high). The participants rated each space on six psychological dimensions (bad–good; stressful–relaxing; ugly–beautiful; boring–interesting; leave–enter; ignore–explore). Significant effects of the application depth of fractals were observed primarily for “boring-interesting”, “ignore-explore”, and “leave-enter” dimensions and were primarily manifested within spaces with medium and high D-values. The results suggest that spatial depth plays a significant role in individuals’ experiences of fractal spaces, arguably by making the space more engaging and interesting.
... Intriguingly, when fractal images are projected on the walls of a room rather than displayed on monitors, the preferred D shifts to slightly higher values (D ~1.6-1.7) [44]. The observer then sees the fractal surrounded by the blank surface of the wall. ...
... Then each circle was replaced by a fractal pattern which could be varied between designs. The D value of the overall pattern generated by this process was informed by the D = 1.6-1.7 target range suggested by the aesthetics experiments that projected fractal images into rooms [44]. Behavioral studies performed on the Relaxing Floor patterns show this complexity to be very effective at balancing engagement, preference, refreshment, and relaxation qualities for a broad group of observers [79]. ...
People are continually exposed to the rich complexity generated by the repetition of fractal patterns at different size scales. Fractals are prevalent in natural scenery and also in patterns generated by artists and mathematicians. In this chapter, we will investigate the powerful significance of fractals for the human senses. In particular, we propose that fractals with mid-range complexity play a unique role in our visual experiences because the visual system has adapted to these prevalent natural patterns. This adaptation is evident at multiple stages of the visual system, ranging from data acquisition by the eye to processing of this data in the higher visual areas of the brain. Based on these results, we will discuss a fluency model in which the visual system processes mid-complexity fractals with relative ease. This fluency optimizes the observer’s capabilities (such as enhanced attention and pattern recognition) and generates an aesthetic experience accompanied by a reduction in the observer’s physiological stress levels. In addition to reviewing people’s responses to viewing fractals, we will compare these responses to recent research focused on fractal sounds and fractal surface textures. We will extend our fractal fluency model to allow for stimuli across multiple senses.
... Previous studies have indicated that certain specific architectural patterns can have numerous beneficial psycho-physiological effects on people, such as fractal architectural patterns [74,75] and natural architectural patterns [76]. Unfortunately, the role of traditional architectural patterns in the aesthetic assessment of modern residential public space facades has yet to be researched in academia. ...
... Fifth, frequency analysis was used to determine the residents' aesthetic preferences for different types of residential entrance facades. Finally, to determine the rank of residents' emotional responses to different types of residential entrance facades, the study adopted the Wilcoxon signed rank test because it does not require the data to obey a normal distribution [75]. Moreover, we used variance and chi-square tests to analyze the effect of the demographic characteristics of the sample on the test results. ...
The complications and sequelae of COVID-19 have jeopardized the well-being of residents, hindering community sustainability. Experiencing positive emotions can mitigate or counteract the negative effects of some diseases, but modern residential facades cannot effectively stimulate positive emotions among residents. Traditional culture influences people’s emotional responses. However, it is unclear what the result would be if traditional architectural patterns, one of the symbols of traditional culture, were redecorated as modern residential facades. Therefore, this paper used questionnaire research to collect data from residents of the Zhouxinyuan community in Wuxi on different types of traditional architectural patterns in assessing architectural aesthetics (N = 365) and health benefits (N = 154), using the Wilcoxon signed rank test to analyze the data for variance. The results indicate that modern residential facades decorated with traditional architectural patterns were more consistent with residents’ visual preferences and more likely to stimulate positive emotions than existing residential facades. Most importantly, modern residential facades decorated with traditional architectural patterns showed higher health benefits, especially in calming emotions (mean = 5, SD = 1.033). Based on these findings and the theory of positive experience, this paper constructs a conceptual framework for modern community public space renovation that contributes to improving the health benefits of modern communities. The framework can mitigate or counteract the complications or sequelae of the pandemic, contributing to the sustainable development of modern community public space environmental systems.
... Fractals are complex and organised patterns that often occur in the natural world but that can be absent from most built environments. environments with fractal qualities, such as nature, incur sometimes immediate benefits such as reduced stress, improved cognitive functioning, and increased positive emotions [121][122][123][124]. ...
Purpose:
Contemporary healthcare design often overlooks the environment as a resource for supporting patient well-being and rehabilitation, particularly in neurotrauma care. The prioritisation of safety and efficiency has created stressful spaces that negatively impact patient needs. This paper explores whether environmental enrichment can enhance rehabilitation outcomes for individuals recovering from neurotrauma. It also introduces the BEEhive laboratory, a multidisciplinary initiative integrating environmental enrichment principles into healthcare.
Methodology:
This paper reviews literature on the role of environmental enrichment in neurotrauma rehabilitation, synthesising empirical evidence on its benefits, and highlighting its potential to improve various aspects of neurorehabilitation. The findings are applied to the BEEhive laboratory's objectives.
Results:
Environmental enrichment is shown to stimulate neurogenesis, increase rehabilitation engagement, reduce disruptive behaviours and depressive symptoms, facilitate social relationships, improve cognitive functioning, reduce stress, and alleviate boredom. Despite these benefits, its application in neurotrauma rehabilitation remains underexplored. The BEEhive laboratory aims to address this gap through multidisciplinary collaboration, implementing strategies to enhance patient outcomes.
Conclusion:
To optimise rehabilitation outcomes, healthcare environments must holistically support well-being. Environmentally focused, sustainable interventions in neurotrauma care, exemplified by the BEEhive initiative, are crucial for bridging the gap between research and practice, fostering innovative approaches to neurotrauma rehabilitation.
... Although numerous studies have been conducted with landscapes, research focusing on the visual properties of indoor environments, such as offices, has grown in recent years. Notable contributions include studies of psychological responses to natural patterns in architecture (Coburn et al., 2019), neural responses to architectural interiors (Coburn et al., 2020), aesthetic perception in rapidly presented images including indoor scenes (Mullin et al., 2017), and the effects of fractal light patterns in interiors (Abboushi et al., 2019). Building on this emerging body of research, we sought to explore how specific visual properties are associated with perceived restorativeness in office environments with varying degrees of greenery. ...
Office environments play a critical role in employee wellbeing and productivity. While the benefits of incorporating nature into workspaces have been recognized, the specific visual characteristics that contribute to restorativeness remain unclear. This study investigates how visual characteristics of office environments, specifically the presence of greenery and color complexity, are associated with perceived restorativeness. In Study 1, we developed a scale based on Attention Restoration Theory to measure the restorative characteristics of office environments, consisting of three subscales: Being Away, Fascination, and Extent. In Study 2, we used this scale to examine the correlation between the restorative characteristics of offices and the visual properties of office photographs. The results showed that the square root of the percentage of green area, the color fractal dimension, and the brightness fractal predicted perceived restorativeness. Notably, the color fractal dimension often showed a stronger effect than the amount of greenery per se. These findings suggest that both the presence of greenery and the overall complexity of color transitions in office spaces contribute to their restorative potential. Our study provides insights for designing more restorative office environments, emphasizing the importance of not only increasing greenery but also mimicking natural color patterns. The predictive model developed provides a practical tool for estimating the restorative potential of office designs. Although there are limitations such as the use of photographic assessments and the inability to fully explain the Extent component of restorativeness, this study contributes to our understanding of how to create more psychologically supportive work environments.
... Human-nature interactions also follow this principle. For example, spatial patterns such as regular stripes are "periodic noise", with a spectral density clustered around one dominant frequency, and hence a low fractal dimension (Abboushi et al. 2019). Large-scale industrial farming, with its endless rows of monocropping, is thus a spatial pattern with low fractal dimension: too much order leads to an unhealthy state (e.g. ...
One of the challenges facing AI governance is the need for multiple scales. Universal human rights require a global scale. If someone asks AI if education is harmful to women, the answer should be “no” regardless of their location. But economic democratization requires local control: if AI’s power over an economy is dictated by corporate giants or authoritarian states, it may degrade democracy’s social and environmental foundations. AI democratization, in other words, needs to operate across multiple scales. Nature allows the multiscale flourishing of biological systems through fractal distributions. In this paper, we show that key elements of the fractal scaling found in nature can be applied to the AI democratization process. We begin by looking at fractal trees in nature and applying similar analytics to tree representations of online conversations. We first examine this application in the context of OpenAI’s “Democratic Inputs” projects for globally acceptable policies. We then look at the advantages of independent AI ownership at local micro-levels, reporting on initial outcomes for experiments with AI and related technologies in community-based systems. Finally, we offer a synthesis of the two, micro and macro, in a multifractal model. Just as nature allows multifractal systems to maximize biodiverse flourishing, we propose a combination of community-owned AI at the micro-level, and globally democratized AI policies at the macro-level, for a more egalitarian and sustainable future.
... However, when those mathematical patterns have variations, their ubiquity in nature becomes quite evident, such as with snowflakes, fern leaves, waves on a beach, flames in a fireplace, the dappled light under trees. These are statistical fractals, so common that when we see these patterns, even in human-designed objects, it is easy for the brain to process the image and measurably lower our stress level [21,22] This effect is called fractal fluency [23]. This is an example of Complexity & Order. ...
Biophilia is the theory that humans are innately connected to nature. As a basis for forming built space, biophilic design has been proven to reduce stress, improve cognition and enhance mood—it makes us happier. In the last 20 years, research in learning spaces has shown an association between biophilic design and student mood, calmness and improved standardized test scores. In 2019, a group of architects, scientists and educators led an experiment involving 6th-grade Math students at the Green Street Academy, which found that student stress was significantly reduced and learning significantly improved in a classroom enriched with biophilic strategies. The architects applied these strategies to the design of Bethel Hanberry Elementary School, and after a year of occupancy, an independent assessment found positive perceptions of the biophilic design, fewer behavior referrals, better teacher retention, lower absenteeism and improved test scores. In both a controlled research experiment and real-world application, the design of learning space, using biophilic strategies, has a significant impact.
... El número de emociones humanas consideradas, varía de acuerdo a la complejidad del modelo teórico como se muestra en las primeras versiones propuestas (Russell, 1980). Investigaciones en el campo de la arquitectura han aplicado anteriormente este modelo para estudiar la correlación entre las percepciones del individuo y las emociones (Abboushi et al., 2019;Chamilothori et al., 2019). No obstante, las experiencias se han realizado con grupos de adultos y no con menores que presentan el desafío de encontrarse en proceso de desarrollo y maduración tanto en la comprensión de emociones como en los términos para definirlos. ...
Las nuevas pedagogías establecen la necesidad de repensar el espacio educativo tradicional entorno a espacios que motiven el rendimiento académico y fomenten el bienestar de los estudiantes, para un favorable desarrollo emocional. Las aulas constituyen los espacios de interacción por excelencia para actuar, debido a que en ellos los estudiantes pasan gran parte de su día. En este contexto, es de gran importancia incluir la mirada de los adolescentes en la producción de espacio, bajo la lógica del diseño de espacios de bienestar centrados en el ocupante. La ponencia presenta un método de exploración de la respuesta emocional de adolescentes, al experimentar diferentes espacios educativos. Se emplea un instrumento, cuyo desarrollo se basa en un modelo de emoción aplicado en el ámbito de la psicología ambiental; para evaluar la experiencia afectiva en dos espacios de aprendizaje: un aula física y en un aula virtual, utilizando técnicas de realidad virtual. Se presentan resultados de una experiencia desarrollada con estudiantes de media 13 años, los cuales permiten observar como el espacio afecta la experiencia en primera persona. Además, permite comprobar la eficacia de respuesta sobre la percepción de estímulos espaciales que impactan en la respuesta afectiva positiva, en cuanto a las emociones y su predisposición al aprendizaje. El método experimental presentado constituye un aporte a las nuevas formas de concebir el espacio arquitectónico centrado en modelos de bienestar. Asimismo, valoriza la mirada de las adolescencias en el contexto educativo, y es un instrumento escalable a otros escenarios de integración del bienestar en la producción de espacios desde la percepción del ocupante.
... Regarding the studies related to sunlight patterns, only a few [20,27,28] were included in our analysis due to our eligibility criteria. However, it is important to acknowledge that a growing body of research investigates the effects of shape, organization, complexity [27,28], and fractal dimension (Abboushi, Elzeyadi, Taylor, & Sereno, 2019) of sunlight patterns on humans. Recent studies also tried to investigate the effects of dynamic sunlight patterns from nature on restorative potential (Chamilothori, Lemmens, Karaman Madan, & de Kort, 2022). ...
... Among them, fractal dimension, as a statistical parameter in fractal geometry theory [7], serves as a measure that describes the complexity or irregularity of a fractal object or pattern, while also providing insights into the extent of space filling and the brokenness of the shape. It is frequently utilised as an indicator to quantify the visual complexity in the built environment [8,9] and has been applied in studies on architectural design [10][11][12][13][14], urban structures [15][16][17], street landscapes [18,19], as well as Chinese classical gardens. For example, Yu Aokun et al. used the box-counting dimension to measure the contours of buildings, rockeries, and pool banks in the garden plan, and explored the influence of the layout characteristics of the tour route on the visual complexity of the Liuyuan [20]. ...
Chinese classical gardens are a significant cultural heritage in the history of world gardening, with their central architectural principle of "scenes changing as steps move" (步移景异) embodying traditional Chinese aesthetic ideals. This study employed the variation of visual complexity during a tour as a representation of this principle, using Jingxinzhai (静心斋) Garden as a case study. The visual environmental characteristics were quantified using the Fraclab box-counting, Canny edge detection, and DeepLab V3 + model, and the spatial distribution of fractal dimension and visual index of landscape elements were analyzed. Through partial correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and one-way ANOVA, the relevant factors (BVI, RVI, GVI, WVI) and influencing factors (BVI, RVI, GVI) and the differences among landscape element combinations of visual complexity were identified. Furthermore, the distribution patterns and causes of visual complexity in Chinese classical gardens were then discussed. This study proposes an effective method for quantifying the visual environmental characteristics of Chinese classical gardens and provides an explanation of the concept of "scenes changing as steps move" from the perspective of visual environment. It offers important references for a deeper understanding of Chinese classical garden design and planning.
... For rooms intended for the elderly, accessibility is a crucial factor due to its connection with health-related concepts (Stineman et al., 2011). At a smaller scale, furniture design (Dazkir and Read, 2012), artwork (Nejati et al., 2016), and lighting patterns (Abboushi et al., 2019) have demonstrated links to restorativeness. Additionally, waterscapes, often overlooked in buildings, play an unexpectedly significant role in restorativeness, including both in-building waterscapes (White et al., 2010) and sea views (Nang Li et al., 2012). ...
As society and the economy have advanced, the focus of architectural and interior environment design has shifted from practicality to eliciting emotional responses, such as stimulating environments and innovative inclusive designs. Of particular interest is the home environment, as it is best suited for achieving restorative effects, leading to a debate between interior qualities and restorative impact. This study explored the relationships between home characteristics, restorative potential, and neural activities using the Neu-VR. The results of the regression analysis revealed statistically significant relationships between interior properties and restorative potential. We examined each potential characteristic of the home environment that could have a restorative impact and elucidated the environmental characteristics that should be emphasized in residential interior design. These findings contribute evidence-based knowledge for designing therapeutic indoor environments. And combining different restorative potential environments with neural activity, discussed new neuro activities which may predict restorativeness, decoded the new indicators of neuro activity for environmental design.
... Restoration starts when the environment's visual qualities promote positive feelings influencing an affective response (Hartig, 2004). These stimulative characteristics may involve natural elements such as plants, and structural aspects like complexity, symmetry, spatial depth, and material used on surfaces (Abboushi et al., 2019;Joye & Van der Berg, 2019). While stress recovery theory explains restoration as a fast, affect-centred process, attention restoration theory emphasises the cognitive structure of restoration. ...
Although research on restorative environments suggest that natural settings have therapeutic effects in moderating stress and promoting positive experiences, there is a limited body of literature inquiring about the therapeutic potential of interior environments. The aim of the current study was to understand the restorative potential of home environments regarding theoretical background on restorative environments and architectural dimensions influencing well-being through the experiences of women. We interviewed 11 adult women using the photo-elicitation technique to investigate the perceived restorativeness of their home environments. Thematic analysis of qualitative data indicated that the design attributes of spaces play a significant role in promoting the restoration process. In addition to design attributes, we found family interaction, socialising, and engaging in activities could also be influential. Furthermore, the exploratory nature of the research highlighted the significance of individual meanings and personal factors in shaping the perceived restorativeness of home environments. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed to encourage future research in related fields that explore the relationship between residential settings and well-being.
... Therefore, the authors proposed future studies examining the low-level and layout properties of restorative scenes. Moreover, the layout properties such as openness, heterogeneity, visual access, movement ease, and lighting may change the restoration through global processing of the scenes [136,[138][139][140]. Researchers defined and categorized layout properties from different perspectives. ...
Restorative environments are known as places where human stress can be decreased through restoration of depleted psychological resources. Since the efficiency of natural environments in restoration is supported by the literature, designing a restorative built environment can be obtained by integrating natural objects into built environments. However, various factors may lead to the failure of design intentions in real restorative environments such as visual stimuli and their properties. In addition, previous literature has widely used images and immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to deliver restorative environments in the design stage, and the impact of the delivery methods on visual properties needs to be considered. Therefore, the key to this study is to investigate the impact of visual stimuli and their properties on restoration along with the type of delivery method. To achieve this objective, the authors performed a literature review in two main steps. During the first step, the authors reviewed restoration and visual studies separately to understand the restoration and visual processes. Then, the second step of the review was conducted based on the results from the first step to review studies investigating the impact of different visual stimuli and properties on restoration. The literature review was conducted by combining scientometric analysis with a systematic review. In total, 1608 publications were retrieved from the Web of Science for scientometric analysis after applying search criteria. Then, the authors explored cluster reports generated by scientometric analysis to find publications for a systematic review based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. According to the results from a systematic review of 65 publications, the authors developed a restoration pathway and a visual processing framework for the first step, and a framework of visual stimuli, visual properties, and restoration for the second step.
... Due to the difficulty of controlling sky conditions in the real world, simulation-based methods have commonly been employed. Researchers have utilized simulation software to generate various daylighting distributions under different sky conditions and presented these daylighting scenes by using monitors or projection screens [21,22]. This method solves the problem of controlling sky conditions with the lack of providing 3D spatial perceptions. ...
Indoor daylighting quality has impacts on occupants’ physical and psychological aspects. Although daylighting design metrics have strictly restricted the amount of sunlight penetration, studies have shown occupants’ preference towards an appropriate amount of sunlight and distributions. Currently, insufficient studies have focused on the composition of interior daylighting distributions. Therefore, this paper presents a laboratory experiment exploring the psychological influences of sunlight patterns under immersive virtual reality scenes. The sunlight patterns are created by a combination of nine aperture designs, two window sizes and two sky types. The experiment collects 41 valid architecture students’ assessments and their physiological responses. Degrees of eight adjectives, including pleasantness, calmness, interest, excitement, complexity, spaciousness, satisfaction with exterior view amount and brightness, are rated by the participants. Physiological data of heart rates and electroencephalogram are collected. According to the analysis, both the aperture designs and sky types have influences upon subjective responses. The large window enhances beta oscillations and beta power on the right prefrontal lobe area, and the clear sky attenuates the theta rhythm on the pre frontal lobe areas. These findings indicate the important influence of natural lightscape compositions created by aperture designs and sky types upon occupants’ psychological processes.
... Taken together, these studies show the relevance of light as a conditioning factor of people's emotions. Given that both light and the built environment affect E-SWB, it is to be expected that natural light conditions in indoor residential spaces could impact people's emotions [90,91]. This study thus seeks to analyse this relationship, as well as to understand the elements of housing design that could significantly improve E-SWB at home. ...
As more people move towards work-from-home options during the COVID-19 pandemic, residential indoor environments are increasingly becoming places where we spend a large share of our time living, working and studying. While the relevance of indoor environments for our emotional wellbeing is well established, little is known about the specific aspects of residential indoor spaces that affect negative and positive emotions. This article studies the relationship between natural lighting in the home and the emotional subjective wellbeing (E-SWB) of its inhabitants. In a randomised control trial, we test the hypothesis that natural lighting improvements in housing contribute to residents' E-SWB, determining which aspects of housing daylight design are more relevant for this. A total of 750 participants took part in the experiment and rated, according to their perceived happiness or sadness, a series of 3D computer simulations representing seven types of natural lighting improvements in the home. The results show that the natural lighting conditions of housing significantly impact people's perceptions of happiness and sadness, with settings that have an increased amount of daylight entering the home leading to the greatest impacts.
... The repeating arches of Gothic architecture serve as an example. In recent years, stress-reducing fractals have also been incorporated into building interiors in the form of fractal carpets, fractal ceiling tiles, and fractal window shades (Abboushi et al. 2019, Taylor 2021. Ultimately, building occupants' could be immersed in an atmosphere of visual, sonic, and textural fractals reminiscent of the natural environments that existed prior to the impact of climate change. ...
Climate change threatens not only the material bases of human societies but also is likely to harm human psychological/emotional well-being. One aspect of this emotional harm may come from how the esthetic properties of environments—especially those stemming from the composition of predominant vegetative cover and cloud patterns—change in regions around the world with shifting climatic patterns. Research has established that humans respond to the fractal dimension of scenes, and that our innate “fractal fluency” leads us to prefer middle-range fractal complexity. Thus, the consequences of climate change for human emotional well-being may vary across regions depending on how the fractal character of landscapes and cloudscapes evolves under new climatic regimes.
... For this computation, the image is divided into multiple sub-sections, and a histogram intersection kernel is used to evaluate the similarity in HOG vectors across the entire image. Previous work has shown that people's aesthetic preferences can be predicted by the fractal (self-similar) geometry of the images being observed (Abboushi et al., 2019;Hagerhall et al., 2004;J. Smith et al., 2020). ...
Worship spaces play a critical role in religious life, serving as the center of activity for faith communities. As a consequence, these spaces form strong associations with the deity that is worshiped there. The goal of this project was to investigate the extent to which religious adherents may come to view these spaces in ways that are influenced by their conceptualization of what god is like. This article reports a pair of studies that tests how congregants’ impressions of both their own worship space (Study 1) and novel worship spaces (Study 2) are guided by their god concepts. Participants (N = 478 in Study 1; N = 407 in Study 2) completed measures assessing their conceptualization of god, followed by providing their impressions of a religious setting in terms of its perceptual legibility (i.e., coherence) and mystery (e.g., complexity). In both studies, those who viewed god in highly benevolent terms were more likely to rate religious settings as high in perceptual legibility (i.e., coherent and easy to understand). In contrast, those who conceptualized god as primarily mystical and ineffable were more likely to view these religious settings as high in perceptual mystery (i.e., complex and requiring exploration). These findings reveal how people’s beliefs about god can serve as conceptual filters through which they view the physical world.
... Have a substantial effect on the intellectual ability [21] Not represent an essential factor regarding the teaching process [22] Have an indirect impact on the teaching process [23] Have an impact on the users physiological [24] Have an impact on students learning ability [25] Daylight improves the students' vision and perception and contributes to students: health, comfort, and productivity [26] Table 3: e impact of greenly elements and spaces on the student engagement. ...
To understand the school’s role in society and its works, it became essential to reevaluate its functions and importance for society after the aggressive attack of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, a new educational space design represents a powerful and required tool for stimulating creativity and increasing concentration, motivation, and assimilation of knowledge for future generations. The article will use appreciative inquiry as a method that works with perspective ideas readings doted by high positive human sensitivity. It also represents a powerful tool for the students’ opinions about the teaching spaces and environments. To improve the performance of educational institutions and schools, considering the sustainability concepts and biophilic designs has become an urgent necessity within the Scandinavian countries and in the world in general. The scientific research and theoretical analysis within the biophilic theory have been conducted to see how the designer can integrate the nature components holistically in the educational environment based on spatial, visual, and ecological integration concepts. The study aims to develop knowledge about applying biophilia as a phenomenon in educational institutes of Scandinavia where the students among others are the main decision-maker. The article’s main finding is that students dream of free open teaching spaces integrated with nature, where the biophilic theory frameworks are suitable to form this sustainable model that enables educational institutions and schools to improve their performance within different stages of the study.
... This could possibly relate to semantic content, but as fractal dimension is associated with art and aesthetics, even in abstract patterns (e.g., Spehar et al., 2003;Taylor et al., 1999), this would appear to be independent of image semantics. Increasing fractal dimension of abstract patterns also increases excitement judgements, and so the SSVEP response may be related to increased excitement, rather than discomfort (Abboushi et al., 2019). ...
It has been suggested that aesthetically pleasing stimuli are processed efficiently by the visual system, whereas uncomfortable stimuli are processed inefficiently. This study consists of a series of three experiments investigating this idea using a range of images of abstract artworks, photographs of natural scenes, and computer‐generated stimuli previously shown to be uncomfortable. Subjective judgements and neural correlates were measured using electroencephalogram (EEG) (steady‐state visual evoked potentials, SSVEPs). In addition, global image statistics (contrast, Fourier amplitude spectral slope and fractal dimension) were taken into account. When effects of physical image contrast were controlled, fractal dimension predicted discomfort judgements, suggesting the SSVEP response is more likely to be influenced by distribution of edges than the spectral slope. Importantly, when effects of physical contrast and fractal dimension were accounted for using linear mixed effects modelling, SSVEP responses predicted subjective judgements of images. Specifically, when stimuli were not matched for perceived contrast, there was a positive relationship between SSVEP responses and how pleasing a stimulus was judged to be, and conversely a negative relationship between discomfort and SSVEP response. This is significant as it shows that the neural responses in early visual areas contribute to the subjective (un)pleasantness of images, although the results of this study do not provide clear support for the theory of efficient coding as the cause of perceived pleasantness or discomfort of images, and so other explanations need to be considered.
Biological and artificial intelligence (BI and AI) share the fundamental principles of space-time information processing based on symmetry transformation. Therefore, cognitive-science-inspired AI represents a promising area of exploration. A convincing example is the fractal structure of human languages and protein assembly. The temporal and spatial plasticity of biological processes links them to the basic laws of physics. Continuous advances in fundamental physical theories allow for the understanding of all aspects of space-time symmetry (STS) natively intertwined with the principles of relativity and causality. Spatial aspects of symmetry, represented by three sub-domains such as chirality, fractality, and topology, are widely studied in biology. The role of chirality in biology has been analyzed in several recent reviews. However, the fractals and topological states of biological structures are a relatively new and fast-developing branch of science. Here, we trace publications exploring the role of fractal symmetry in all hierarchical states of biological organization, including at the molecular, cellular, morphological, physiological, perceptual, cognitive, and psychological levels. The coverage of the above-listed areas in current studies is sharply unequal and unsystematic. A broad view of biological fractality opens a unique opportunity to discriminate between a healthy state and a wide range of disease conditions. Psychiatric, neurological, and immune disorders are associated with aberrant molecular assembly and morphological changes in neural circuits, suggesting that the chain of chirality/fractality transfer through all levels of physiological organization deserves persistent attention.
Biophilic design (BD) is defined as a design approach that promotes human-nature connectedness (HNC) in the built environment (BE), resulting in a significant impact on human health, well-being, and productivity, in addition to several economic, social, and environmental benefits. This study presents a critical analysis of the most important proposed frameworks and strategies for the application of BD from 2008 to 2022 to identify points of confusion and weaknesses and try to avoid them. The study concluded by presenting a Four-Component Framework as a new architectural translation that seeks to facilitate the application of BD in the design of the BE to achieve the benefits of HNC. The proposed framework focuses on separating the elements of nature from the methods in which these elements are used, from the desired experiences from the BD's intended goals. As a result of this separation, architects and designers may find that by applying this framework, the application of BD becomes easier, more tangible, and unambiguous.
This article describes a cycle of a work-in-progress action research project that aims to develop and implement a fractal pedagogy for design students. The fractal pedagogy takes on board fractal patterns, self-similar repeating natural patterns, as a lens for artmaking and teaching. Fractals have been proven to be bountiful in nature and to engender a well-being or biophilic response in people. The action research cycle describes a collaborative effort to bring three guided nature walks to the local community in Dublin, Ohio, USA. The walks reaffirm connections between the fractals in the participants’ bodies and in the natural environment while carrying out fractal and well-being-centred artmaking activities. Each of the walks, the embodied, found object and marking-making walks, were led by a different local Ohio artist. This cycle will combine with previous and future research to define a fractal pedagogy that is collaborative, interdisciplinary and connected to nature.
Recent innovations in building materials, design methods, and construction techniques have allowed architects to experiment with new and daring architectural forms. While Modernist and Contemporary architecture may be innovative, its effects on human users tend to be mixed. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of traditional and modern styles of ecclesiastical (church) architecture in supporting certain aspects of human psychological and physiological well-being, namely restorative and focusing effects. A literature review was performed to identify spatial, lighting, and decorative design features thought to support these human factors, with a particular focus on the design theories of Biophilia and Prospect-Refuge. These features were compared to design aspects of traditional and modern church architecture. Traditional architectural styles were found to incorporate more features identified as supporting restorative and focusing effects than modern styles. Recommendations were developed for adjustments to church spaces to improve the subjective experience of visitors.
W pracy przedstawiono ideę, zgodnie z którąpowstanie nowoczesnego budynku mieszkalnegozapewniającego komfort użytkownikomjest efektem świadomego współdziałaniacałego zespołu specjalistów, począwszyod fazy projektowej, aż do oddania budynkudo użytkowania. Każdy z uczestników tegoprocesu powinien mieć świadomość, że nadrzędnymcelem nie jest wyłącznie spełnienienorm i warunków technicznych, a stworzeniepewnego sztucznego ekosystemu zwróconegona potrzeby konkretnego człowieka –użytkownika danego budynku mieszkalnego.W pracy skupiono się na wybranych aspektachkomfortu użytkownika i opisano systemy,które zyskują popularność na całymświecie i są w stanie go zapewnić, nie analizowanonatomiast jakości przestrzeni i ergonomiiw sensie architektonicznym. Zaproponowanorozwiązania, które mogą przekształcićbudynek mieszkalny w ekosystem zwróconyna człowieka. Opisano koncepcję budownictwazrównoważonego, zyskujący na popularnościnurt zwany bioniką, systemy inteligentnegozarządzania obiektem, nowoczesny systemklimatyzacyjny i wprowadzane na ryneknowe materiały. Przytoczone rozwiązaniadają możliwość zaprojektowania ekosystemu,który współgra z użytkownikiem i korzystniewpływa na to, jak człowiek czuje się w danymobiekcie.
This research is motivated by preschoolers' need for appropriate visualizations of living things in media. Although naturally, human's sense of biophilia encourages children's interest and interactions with nature, these interactions, conducted routinely and of quality, are now a privilege that only a few have. In this condition, media with anthropomorphic visualizations of living things is often used as a complementary method of honing children's real intelligence from a young age. However, view's regarding its effectiveness is still debated. Because of this, through an integrative literature review regarding the psychological development of preschoolers, anthropomorphic visualizations, and the human's sense of biophilia, the researcher attempts to analyze the potential of anthropomorphic visualizations in preschoolers' media for nature education from each field's point of view. Design practitioners and subsequent researchers may benefit from this research as a basis for appropriate anthropomorphic visualizations in children's media applications. The literature review process utilizes features from several online scientific article research portals or services. This process begins with determining selection based on keywords, titles and abstracts, complete articles, and gradual analysis based on input from each field, as well as the integrative analysis between fields. Results show that the effectiveness of nature education with anthropomorphic visualizations on the development of naturalist intelligence in preschool-age children cannot be generalized. The impact of visualization styles is adjustable depending on design goals, such as emotional attachment or scientific knowledge. Keywords: anthropomorphism, biophilia, children's media, preschool, visualization
Görsel çevre, kentliyi ve kenti ziyaret eden kullanıcıları yönlendiren ve etkileyen bir kentsel bileşendir. Özellikle turizm potansiyeli yüksek alanlarda görsellerden yola çıkarak kentsel tasarıma yönelik analizler yürütmek fiziksel kararlar açısından bir gerekliliktir. Bilgisayar destekli görüntü işleme teknolojisinde yaşanan gelişmeler sayesinde öne çıkan görsel karmaşıklık analizi ile sunulan görsellerin ölçülebilir değerlerinin hesaplanması mümkündür. Görsel karmaşıklığın değerlendirilmesinde kullanılan en yaygın yöntemlerden biri ise fraktal geometri tabanlı analizlerdir. Araştırmada tarihi ve sosyo-kültürel pek çok değeri ile ziyaretçi potansiyelinin yüksek olduğu Eskişehir Odunpazarı ilçesinden üç farklı cazibe bölgesi (Adalar, Bulvar ve Müzeler) ele alınarak, yapılı çevrelerinin karmaşıklık değerlendirmelerinde fraktal boyutu ortaya koymak amaçlanmaktadır. Bölgelerden seçilen 60 sokak görüntüsü için ilk olarak ön işleme yapılmıştır. Böylece, görüntülerdeki algısal olarak anlamlı kenar yapıları etkili bir şekilde ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Ardından, görüntülerin fraktal heterojenlik boyutu (FDH: fractal dimension of heterogeneity) ve dokunun fraktal boyutu (FDT: fractal dimension of texture) yöntemleri ile görsel karmaşıklık düzeyi ölçülmüştür. Yöntemde FDH görüntülerin heterojenlik boyutunu (Dv), FDT ise dokuların heterojenlik boyutunu [Dv(s)] temsil etmektedir. Elde edilen görsel karmaşıklık değerleri, dört farklı çeyrekten oluşan karmaşıklık matrisi ile değerlendirilmiştir. Adalar bölgesinde Dv değerleri 1,51-1,70 arasındayken, Dv(s) değerleri ise 1,62-1,76 arasında değişmektedir. Bulvar bölgesinde Dv değerleri 1,50-1,69 arasında değişim gösterirken, Dv(s) değerleri 1,54-1,78 arasında ölçülmüştür. Müzeler bölgesinde ise görüntülerin Dv değerleri 1,47-1,75 arasında değişim gösterirken, Dv(s) değerleri 1,52-1,74 arasındadır. Araştırma sonucunda, Adalar bölgesinin diğer alanlardan daha karmaşık bir tasarıma sahip olduğuna ulaşılmıştır. Bu sonuç ise Adalar bölgesinin görsel zenginlik açısından ziyaretçiler için daha çekici ve heyecan verici bir kentsel alan olduğunu göstermektedir. Çalışma, görsel mekânsal algı bağlamında yapılı çevrelerin nicel olarak değerlendirilmesinde FDH-FDT yönteminin etkili bir sistematik araç olabileceğini göstermektedir.
У статті досліджується параметричне проєктування, яке надає широкий спектр варіантів у широкому діапазоні проектів, а в ітераційному процесі проектування дає чудові результати, яких важко досягти традиційними методами. Параметричний дизайн дозволяє створювати творчі, ітераційні динамічні форми, натхненні природою та залежні від алгоритмічних взаємозв’язків і зв’язків. Крім того, нескінченна різноманітність модульних форм може бути створена на основі простих елементів шляхом додавання параметричних модифікаторів. Також розглянуто роль параметричного дизайну в сьогоденні та досліджені області даного типу моделювання в дизайні, оскільки він дає несподівані нові ідеї для майбутніх стилів. Досліджено використання фрактального методу параметричного моделювання у формотворенні дизайну на прикладі навмисного фрактального формотворення світових дизайнерів та архітекторів розглянуто вплив фрактальних природних форм на відчуття людей. Фрактальна геометрія визначає грубі або фрагментовані геометричні форми, які можна розділити на частини, кожна з яких є (принаймні приблизно) зменшеною копією цілого. Коротше кажучи, неправильні деталі або візерунки повторюються в ще меншому масштабі. Фрактальна геометрія має справу з концепцією самоподібності та шорсткості в природі. Найважливішими властивостями фракталів є повторювані утворення, самоподібність, неціла розмірність і так званий дробовий розмір, який можна визначити параметром у неправильних формах. Фрактали утворюються шляхом повторення візерунків, форм або математичних рівнянь.
Recent work on the aesthetics of the built and natural environment has shown that aesthetic responses are derived from three interrelated psychological dimensions: Fascination (an environment's richness or interest), Coherence (analytic judgments about an environment's organization and construction), and Hominess (feelings of warmth or coziness). However, it is also well-established that individuals differ widely in their responses to environments and objects. In particular, training in the arts has been reliably shown to influence people's aesthetic experiences. Here, we investigated the extent to which expertise in architecture and design influenced responses and preferences to the natural and built environment. Across three studies, we found that the underlying psychological dimensions of Experts and Novices are qualitatively different. We further hypothesized that expertise in architecture renders design features of the environment to be more emotionally and aesthetically pleasing. Consistent with this hypothesis, the Coherence dimension of architecture Experts was more strongly associated with Fascination and Hominess criteria, and had a greater influence on their overall aesthetic experience. Additionally, our findings provide evidence of expertise effects for both rapid and deliberate judgements. In sum, the present study extends a growing body of research on the underlying psychological dimensions of aesthetic experiences of the environment, demonstrating that expertise affects the interrelatedness of these dimensions.
This work-in-progress aims to present educational content and pedagogical tools so that the Fractal Mindset may be defined, developed, and taught at different levels of education. The educational model will draw from a theoretical understanding of fractal patterns. A fractal pattern is a mathematical concept which defines a pattern that is self-similar across multiple scales. These patterns describe the complexity we see in nature and beyond while underlying positive psychological and physiological wellbeing responses. The novelty of this research lies in the leveraging of fractal patterning to create educational content and tools that value three branches: connections with nature, dimensions of wellbeing, and wicked problems in design thinking. In pursuit of the research aim, the following question is posed: what considerations must be satisfied for the Fractal Mindset’s educational content and pedagogical tools to be effective in expanding student perspectives at each educational level – general public, middle school, and undergraduate?KeywordsFractalsWellbeingEducationPedagogyBiophiliaNature
Recent studies have shown that the façade and light patterns in a space are an important factor in the occupants' experience, but little is known about the generalizability of these findings in different lighting conditions, uses of space, or latitudes. This study employed virtual reality to investigate the effects of façade geometry and daylight patterns on space impressions and physiological responses (skin conductance, heart rate, and heart rate variability), while simultaneously examining the effect of sky type, spatial context, and latitude on participant responses. In an experimental study conducted in Switzerland and Greece, 256 participants were exposed to immersive interior scenes with six façade geometry variations with the same perforation ratio, derived from contemporary architecture. Participants evaluated the scenes under different sky types (clear sky with high or low sun angle, or overcast sky) and spatial contexts (working or socializing). The façade geometry influenced both the appraisal (how pleasant, interesting, exciting, or calming the space was perceived) and the visual appearance of the space (how complex, bright, or spacious the space was perceived). Façade geometry also influenced the reported satisfaction with the amount of view, with a façade variation with small, irregularly distributed openings driving this effect. Neither the sky type nor the spatial context influenced space impressions. Results showed a significant effect of country and an interaction between country and façade geometry only for ratings of excitement, with participants in Greece rating specific façade variations as more exciting than participants in Switzerland. Skin conductance level (logΔSCL) decreased under exposure to a social context in clear sky with a low sun angle compared to a working context in overcast sky conditions. No significant effects were found for the other physiological measures. The results of the present study show that façade geometry was the main driver of the participants’ spatial experience, inducing perceptual effects that were robust to variations in sky type and space function and to regional differences (except for excitement). These findings have implications for the built environment, delineating the façade geometry as an important design tool with a high application potential across lighting conditions and space uses, and across latitudes between central and southern Europe.
This article reviews current research in visual urban perception. The temporal sequence of the first few milliseconds of visual stimulus processing sheds light on the historically ambiguous topic of aesthetic experience. Automatic fractal processing triggers initial attraction/avoidance evaluations of an environment’s salubriousness, and its potentially positive or negative impacts upon an individual. As repeated cycles of visual perception occur, the attractiveness of urban form affects the user experience much more than had been previously suspected. These perceptual mechanisms promote walkability and intuitive navigation, and so they support the urban and civic interactions for which we establish communities and cities in the first place. Therefore, the use of multiple fractals needs to reintegrate with biophilic and traditional architecture in urban design for their proven positive effects on health and well-being. Such benefits include striking reductions in observers’ stress and mental fatigue. Due to their costs to individual well-being, urban performance, environmental quality, and climatic adaptation, this paper recommends that nontraditional styles should be hereafter applied judiciously to the built environment.
Polygon tilings in natural and man-made objects show great variety. Unlike previous studies that have mainly focused on their classification and production methods, this study aimed at exploring factors that may contribute to the perceived beauty of convex polygon tilings. We analyze the dimensions of regularity, curvature, and density, as well as individual differences. Triangle tilings and hexagon tilings were tested in Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. The results showed that the perceived beauty of convex polygon tilings can be enhanced by higher levels of regularity and nonobvious local curvature. Surprisingly, the effect of density appeared to be different, with the dense triangle tilings and the less dense hexagon tilings scoring higher than the reverse. We discuss a possible explanation based on trypophobia caused by different types of polygons, as well as the observers’ personality trait of agreeableness.
The views that windows provide from inside a building affect human health and well-being. Although window view is an important element of architecture, there is no established framework to guide its design. The literature is widely dispersed across different disciplinary fields, and there is a need to coalesce this information into a framework that can be applied into the building design. Based on the literature, we present a framework for what constitutes “view quality.” At the basis of our framework, we propose three primary variables: View Content (the assessment of visual features seen in the window view); View Access (the measure of how much of the view can be seen through the window from the occupant’s position); and View Clarity (the assessment of how clear the view content appears in the window view when seen by an occupant). Each variable was thematically derived from different sources including daylighting standards, green certification systems, and scientific research studies. We describe the most important characteristics of each variable, and from our review of the literature, we propose a conceptual index that can evaluate the quality of a window view. While discussing the index, we summarize design recommendations for integrating these three variables into the building process and identify knowledge gaps for future research.
Rorschach inkblots have had a striking impact on the worlds of art and science because of the remarkable variety of associations with recognizable and namable objects they induce. Originally adopted as a projective psychological tool to probe mental health, psychologists and artists have more recently interpreted the variety of induced images simply as a signature of the observers’ creativity. Here we analyze the relationship between the spatial scaling parameters of the inkblot patterns and the number of induced associations, and suggest that the perceived images are induced by the fractal characteristics of the blot edges. We discuss how this relationship explains the frequent observation of images in natural scenery.
We investigated two-directional relations between various types of exposure to the natural world, at work and at home, and employee well-being. In total, 841 employees answered an electronic questionnaire twice with a one-year interval. Path analysis indicated that frequent physical activity in natural surroundings during free time predicted greater vitality over a one-year period after including control variables. The use of one's yard/garden and happiness were marginally positively associated over time. None of the variables involving exposure to the natural world at work were linked to the well-being measures. In the reverse direction, creativity at work predicted more frequent and vitality less frequent use of one's domestic garden. Happiness was marginally positively related to the frequency of physical activity in nature. The results suggest that free time physical activity in natural surroundings is a potential strategy for enhancing employee vitality across time.
In two experiments, we investigate group and individual preferences in a range of different types of patterns with varying fractal-like scaling characteristics. In Experiment 1, we used 1/f filtered grayscale images as well as their thresholded (black and white) and edges only counterparts. Separate groups of observers viewed different types of images varying in slope of their amplitude spectra. Although with each image type, the groups exhibited the “universal” pattern of preference for intermediate amplitude spectrum slopes, we identified 4 distinct sub-groups in each case. Sub-group 1 exhibited a typical peak preference for intermediate amplitude spectrum slopes (“intermediate”; approx. 50%); sub-group 2 exhibited a linear increase in preference with increasing amplitude spectrum slope (“smooth”; approx. 20%), while sub-group 3 exhibited a linear decrease in preference as a function of the amplitude spectrum slope (“sharp”; approx. 20%). Sub-group 4 revealed no significant preference (“other”; approx. 10%). In Experiment 2, we extended the range of different image types and investigated preferences within the same observers. We replicate the results of our first experiment and show that individual participants exhibit stable patterns of preference across a wide range of image types. In both experiments, Q-mode factor analysis identified two principal factors that were able to explain more than 80% of interindividual variations in preference across all types of images, suggesting a highly similar dimensional structure of interindividual variations in preference for fractal-like scaling characteristics.
Fractal geometry has been used to describe natural and built environments, but has yet to be studied in navigational research. In order to establish a relationship between the fractal dimension (D) of a natural environment and humans' ability to navigate such spaces, we conducted two experiments using virtual environments that simulate the fractal properties of nature. In Experiment 1, participants completed a goal-driven search task either with or without a map in landscapes that varied in D. In Experiment 2, participants completed a map-reading and location-judgment task in separate sets of fractal landscapes. In both experiments, task performance was highest at the low-to-mid range of D, which was previously reported as most preferred and discriminable in studies of fractal aesthetics and discrimination, respectively, supporting a theory of visual fluency. The applicability of these findings to architecture, urban planningz and the general design of constructed spaces is discussed.
Fractals are physically complex due to their repetition of patterns at multiple size scales. Whereas the statistical characteristics of the patterns repeat for fractals found in natural objects, computers can generate patterns that repeat exactly. Are these exact fractals processed differently, visually and aesthetically, than their statistical counterparts? We investigated the human aesthetic response to the complexity of exact fractals by manipulating fractal dimensionality, symmetry, recursion, and the number of segments in the generator. Across two studies, a variety of fractal patterns were visually presented to human participants to determine the typical response to exact fractals. In the first study, we found that preference ratings for exact midpoint displacement fractals can be described by a linear trend with preference increasing as fractal dimension increases. For the majority of individuals, preference increased with dimension. We replicated these results for other exact fractal patterns in a second study. In the second study, we also tested the effects of symmetry and recursion by presenting asymmetric dragon fractals, symmetric dragon fractals, and Sierpinski carpets and Koch snowflakes, which have radial and mirror symmetry. We found a strong interaction among recursion, symmetry and fractal dimension. Specifically, at low levels of recursion, the presence of symmetry was enough to drive high preference ratings for patterns with moderate to high levels of fractal dimension. Most individuals required a much higher level of recursion to recover this level of preference in a pattern that lacked mirror or radial symmetry, while others were less discriminating. This suggests that exact fractals are processed differently than their statistical counterparts. We propose a set of four factors that influence complexity and preference judgments in fractals that may extend to other patterns: fractal dimension, recursion, symmetry and the number of segments in a pattern. Conceptualizations such as Berlyne’s and Redies’ theories of aesthetics also provide a suitable framework for interpretation of our data with respect to the individual differences that we detect. Future studies that incorporate physiological methods to measure the human aesthetic response to exact fractal patterns would further elucidate our responses to such timeless patterns.
Daylit architecture is perceived as a dynamic luminous composition, yet most existing performance metrics were designed to evaluate natural illumination for its ability to adequately illuminate a two-dimensional task surface and avoid glare-based discomfort. It may be argued that task-driven approaches based on surface illumination and glare ignore the likelihood that contrast can provide positive impacts on our visual perception of space. Advances in these metrics to accommodate climate-based sky conditions and occupant behavior have improved our ability to evaluate task illumination and glare, yet the same attention has not been paid to evaluating positive perceptual responses to daylight. Existing studies have attempted to link subjective ratings of composition to simple global contrast metrics without reaching consensus. More advanced metrics have been developed in computational graphics and vision fields, but have not been applied to studies in qualitative lighting research. This paper introduces the results from an online experiment where subject ratings of daylight composition are compared to quantitative contrast measures across a series of renderings. This paper will identify which measures correlate to subjects’ ratings of visual interest, and introduces a modified contrast algorithm, which can be used as a novel prediction model for visual interest in daylit renderings.
For centuries, the essence of aesthetic experience has remained one of the most intriguing mysteries for philosophers, artists, art historians and scientists alike. Recently, views emphasizing the link between aesthetics, perception and brain function have become increasingly prevalent (Ramachandran and Hirstein, 1999; Zeki, 1999; Livingstone, 2002; Ishizu and Zeki, 2013). The link between art and the fractal-like structure of natural images has also been highlighted (Spehar et al., 2003; Graham and Field, 2007; Graham and Redies, 2010). Motivated by these claims and our previous findings that humans display a consistent preference across various images with fractal-like statistics, here we explore the possibility that observers’ preference for visual patterns might be related to their sensitivity for such patterns. We measure sensitivity to simple visual patterns (sine-wave gratings varying in spatial frequency and random textures with varying scaling exponent) and find that they are highly correlated with visual preferences exhibited by the same observers. Although we do not attempt to offer a comprehensive neural model of aesthetic experience, we demonstrate a strong relationship between visual sensitivity and preference for simple visual patterns. Broadly speaking, our results support assertions that there is a close relationship between aesthetic experience and the sensory coding of natural stimuli.
Fractals have experienced considerable success in quantifying the visual
complexity exhibited by many natural patterns, and continue to capture
the imagination of scientists and artists alike. Fractal patterns have
also been noted for their aesthetic appeal, a suggestion further
reinforced by the discovery that the poured patterns of the American
abstract painter Jackson Pollock are also fractal, together with the
findings that many forms of art resemble natural scenes in showing
scale-invariant, fractal-like properties. While some have suggested that
fractal-like patterns are inherently pleasing because they resemble
natural patterns and scenes, the relation between the visual
characteristics of fractals and their aesthetic appeal remains unclear.
Motivated by our previous findings that humans display a consistent
preference for a certain range of fractal dimension across fractal
images of various types we turn to scale-specific processing of visual
information to understand this relationship. Whereas our previous
preference studies focused on fractal images consisting of black shapes
on white backgrounds, here we extend our investigations to include
grayscale images in which the intensity variations exhibit scale
invariance. This scale-invariance is generated using a 1/f frequency
distribution and can be tuned by varying the slope of the rotationally
averaged Fourier amplitude spectrum. Thresholding the intensity of these
images generates black and white fractals with equivalent scaling
properties to the original grayscale images, allowing a direct
comparison of preferences for grayscale and black and white fractals. We
found no significant differences in preferences between the two groups
of fractals. For both set of images, the visual preference peaked for
images with the amplitude spectrum slopes from 1.25 to 1.5, thus
confirming and extending the previously observed relationship between
fractal characteristics of images and visual preference.
Within the field of restorative environments research, it is commonly assumed that restorative responses, triggered by exposure to natural elements and settings, are ultimately adaptive traits originating from our species’ long evolutionary history in natural environments. The aim of this article is to critically investigate the viability of this evolutionary view on restoration. In doing so, we specifically focus on Stress Recovery Theory (SRT), as this theoretical framework has most extensively elaborated on the supposed evolutionary origins of restoration. A detailed analysis of SRT's psycho-evolutionary framework shows that neither current empirical evidence nor conceptual arguments provide any strong support for the hypothesis of restorative responses to nature as an ancient evolved adaptive trait. Based on this conclusion we put forward an alternative model for restorative responses to nature based on processing fluency, which prima facie circumvents some of the pitfalls associated with evolutionary accounts for restoration. The Discussion section reflects on the implications of our critical discussion for the theory and practice of urban forestry and urban greening.
Groups of subjects judged one example of two different types of outdoor scene on each of the items of the Perceived Restorative Scale, on two preference scales and a familiarity scale. It was argued that the previously demonstrated large variations in preference between different types of scenes were the result of participants using the restorative value of a scene as an implicit frame of reference for the preference judgment. Preference and the Perceived Restorative Scale score correlated .81, whereas familiarity and the Restorative Scale correlated .31, and preference and familiarity correlated .32. This result supports the hypothesis regarding the use of the restorative value of a scene as an implicit frame of reference for preference judgments. It is further argued that variations in the preference and restorative value of scenes may be associated with fractal geometry.
Subjects viewed sixty color slides of either (1) nature with water, (2) nature dominated by vegetation, or (3) urban environments without water or vegetation. The information rates of the three slide samples were equivalent. Measurements were taken of the effects of the slide presentations on alpha amplitude, heart rate, and emotional states. Results revealed several significant differences as a function of environment, which together indicate that the two categories of nature views had more positive influences on psychophysiological states than the urban scenes. Alpha was significantly higher during the vegetation as opposed to urban slides; similarly, alpha was higher on the average when subjects viewed water rather than urban content. There was also a consistent pattern for nature, especially water, to have more positive influences on emotional states. A salient finding was that water, and to a lesser extent vegetation views, held attention and interest more effectively than the urban scenes. Implications of the findings for theory development in environmental aesthetics are discussed.
The meaning that persons attribute to environments is divided into perceptual cognitive meaning and affective meaning. Affective meaning is then conceptualized as a 2-dimensional bipolar space that can be defined by 8 variables falling in the following circular order around the perimeter: pleasant (arbitrarily set at 0°), exciting (45°), arousing (90°), distressing (135°), unpleasant (180°), gloomy (225°), sleepy (270°), and relaxing (315°, which is thus 45° from pleasant). Alternatively, the same space can be defined by 2 orthogonal bipolar dimensions of pleasant-unpleasant and arousing-sleepy, or equally well by exciting-gloomy and distressing-relaxing. Reliable verbal scales (based on data from 241 Ss) for these 8 variables were developed and shown to approximate the proposed theoretical structure. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Physicist Clint Sprott demonstrated a relationship between aesthetic judgments of fractal images and their fractal dimensions [1993]. Scott Draves, aka Spot, a computer scientist and artist, has created a space of images called fractal flames, based on attractors of two-dimensional iterated function systems. A large community of users run software that automatically downloads animated fractal flames, known as "sheep", and displays them as their screen-saver. The users may vote electronically for the sheep they like while the screen-saver is running. In this report we proceed from Sprott to Spot. The data show an inverted U-shaped curve in the relationship between aesthetic judgments of flames and their fractal dimension, confirming and clarifying earlier reports.
Fractals have been very successful in quantifying the visual complexity exhibited by many natural patterns, and have captured the imagination of scientists and artists alike. Our research has shown that the poured patterns of the American abstract painter Jackson Pollock are also fractal. This discovery raises an intriguing possibility – are the visual characteristics of fractals responsible for the long-term appeal of Pollock's work? To address this question, we have conducted 10 years of scientific investigation of human response to fractals and here we present, for the first time, a review of this research that examines the inter-relationship between the various results. The investigations include eye tracking, visual preference, skin conductance, and EEG measurement techniques. We discuss the artistic implications of the positive perceptual and physiological responses to fractal patterns.
Sustainable design has made great strides in recent years; unfortunately, it still falls short of fully integrating nature into our built environment. Through a groundbreaking new paradigm of "restorative environmental design," award-winning author Stephen R. Kellert proposes a new architectural model of sustainability. In Building For Life, Kellert examines the fundamental interconnectedness of people and nature, and how the loss of this connection results in a diminished quality of life. This thoughtful new work illustrates how architects and designers can use simple methods to address our innate needs for contact with nature. Through the use of natural lighting, ventilation, and materials, as well as more unexpected methodologies-the use of metaphor, perspective, enticement, and symbol-architects can greatly enhance our daily lives. These design techniques foster intellectual development, relaxation, and physical and emotional well-being. In the works of architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen, Cesar Pelli, Norman Foster, and Michael Hopkins, Kellert sees the success of these strategies and presents models for moving forward. Ultimately, Kellert views our fractured relationship with nature as a design problem rather than an unavoidable aspect of modern life, and he proposes many practical and creative solutions for cultivating a more rewarding experience of nature in our built environment.
Owing to the prevalence of fractal patterns in natural scenery and their growing impact on cultures around the world, fractals constitute a common feature of our daily visual experiences, raising an important question: what responses do fractals induce in the observer? We monitored subjects' EEG while they were viewing fractals with different fractal dimensions, and the results show that significant effects could be found in the EEG even by employing relatively simple silhouette images. Patterns with a fractal dimension of 1.3 elicited the most interesting EEG, with the highest alpha in the frontal lobes but also the highest beta in the parietal area, pointing to a complicated interplay between different parts of the brain when experiencing this pattern.
Space- and object-based attention components were examined in neurologically normal and parietal-lesion subjects, who detected a luminance change at 1 of 4 ends of 2 outline rectangles. One rectangle end was precued (75% valid); on invalid-cue trials, the target appeared at the other end of the cued rectangle or at 1 end of the uncued rectangle. For normals, the cost for invalid cues was greater for targets in the uncued rectangle, indicating an object-based component. Both right- and left-hemisphere patients showed costs that were greater for contralesional targets. For right-hemisphere patients, the object cost was equivalent for contralesional and ipsilesional targets, indicating a spatial deficit, whereas the object cost for left-hemisphere patients was larger for contralesional targets, indicating an object deficit.
Because human activities impact the timing, location, and degree of pollutant exposure, they play a key role in explaining exposure variation. This fact has motivated the collection of activity pattern data for their specific use in exposure assessments. The largest of these recent efforts is the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS), a 2-year probability-based telephone survey (
n=9386) of exposure-related human activities in the United States (U.S.) sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The primary purpose of NHAPS was to provide comprehensive and current exposure information over broad geographical and temporal scales, particularly for use in probabilistic population exposure models. NHAPS was conducted on a virtually daily basis from late September 1992 through September 1994 by the University of Maryland's Survey Research Center using a computer-assisted telephone interview instrument (CATI) to collect 24-h retrospective diaries and answers to a number of personal and exposure-related questions from each respondent. The resulting diary records contain beginning and ending times for each distinct combination of location and activity occurring on the diary day (i.e., each microenvironment). Between 340 and 1713 respondents of all ages were interviewed in each of the 10 EPA regions across the 48 contiguous states. Interviews were completed in 63% of the households contacted. NHAPS respondents reported spending an average of 87% of their time in enclosed buildings and about 6% of their time in enclosed vehicles. These proportions are fairly constant across the various regions of the U.S. and Canada and for the California population between the late 1980s, when the California Air Resources Board (CARB) sponsored a state-wide activity pattern study, and the mid-1990s, when NHAPS was conducted. However, the number of people exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in California seems to have decreased over the same time period, where exposure is determined by the reported time spent with a smoker. In both California and the entire nation, the most time spent exposed to ETS was reported to take place in residential locations.
Fractals have experienced considerable success in quantifying the complex structure exhibited by many natural patterns and have captured the imagination of scientists and artists alike. With ever widening appeal, they have been referred to both as "fingerprints of nature" and "the new aesthetics." Our research has shown that the drip patterns of the American abstract painter Jackson Pollock are fractal. In this paper, we consider the implications of this discovery. We first present an overview of our research from the past five years to establish a context for our current investigations of human response to fractals. We discuss results showing that fractal images generated by mathematical, natural and human processes possess a shared aesthetic quality based on visual complexity. In particular, participants in visual perception tests display a preference for fractals with mid-range fractal dimensions. We also present recent preliminary work based on skin conductance measurements that indicate that these mid-range fractals also affect the observer's physiological condition and discuss future directions based on these results.
Previous studies have suggested that analysis of eye movements can provide new insights into the research of features of restorative environments in terms of the Attention Restoration Theory. Humans prefer images of nature over urban scenes, and eye-movement behavior seems be different across these categories. To enhance these findings, we investigated differences in eye movements while viewing nature scenes versus two categories of urban scenes. Apart from ordinary urban scenes, we also included the category of scenic images of old cities. The analysis of eye movements indicated lower eye movement activity while viewing nature scenes relative to ordinary urban scenes and also minor differences in eye movements between urban scenes and old city scenes. The results are explained in terms of lower cognitive effort while processing nature scenes in contrast to images of built environments.
Nature contact is beneficial for both health and mood but these effects have been tested only in studies conducted during summer months and the evidence for clinically-relevant emotions is limited. Three studies contrasted contact with nature vs. built environment in fall and winter seasons using either actual contact or pictures of nature. Mood measures included positive and negative affect, eudaimonia, and a standardized measure of stress, anxiety, and depression. Study 1 exposed participants to outdoor (natural) or indoor settings, Study 2 repeated the design with photographs of the two settings, and Study 3 directly contrasted actual contact with pictures of nature. The pattern of mood scores across the three studies suggest that both actual and pictorial nature contact benefits moods, but actual nature is more effective. These benefits were present in winter as well as warmer seasons.
Humans are continually exposed to the rich visual complexity generated by the repetition of fractal patterns at different size scales. Fractals are prevalent in natural scenery and in patterns generated by artists and mathematicians. In this chapter, we will investigate the powerful significance of fractals for the human visual system. In particular, we propose that fractals with midrange complexity (D = 1.3–1.5 measured on a scale between D = 1.1 for low complexity and D = 1.9 for high complexity) play a unique role in our visual experiences because the visual system has adapted to these prevalent natural patterns. This adaption is evident at multiple stages of the visual system, ranging from data acquisition by the eye to processing of this data in the higher visual areas of the brain. For example, eye-movement studies show that the eye traces out mid-D fractal trajectories that facilitate visual searches through fractal scenery. Furthermore, quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) and preliminary fMRI investigations demonstrate that mid-D fractals induce distinctly different neurophysiological responses than less prevalent fractals. Based on these results, we will discuss a fluency model in which the visual system processes mid-D fractals with relative ease. This fluency optimizes the observer’s capabilities (such as enhanced attention and pattern recognition) and generates an aesthetic experience accompanied by a reduction in the observer’s physiological stress levels. In addition to exploring the fundamental science of our visual system, the results have important practical consequences. For example, mid-D fractals have the potential to address stress-related illnesses.
In three experiments, we tested whether a perceiver's emotions affected the perception of brightness. Experiment 1 primed emotions via happy or sad film clips and found that happy participants judged the room to be brighter than sad participants. In Experiment 2, participants' emotions were primed by recalling happy or sad deeds and also revealed that happy participants judged the room to be brighter in both watts and using a 7-point scale compared to sad participants. Using the same manipulation as Experiment 2, Experiment 3 also showed that happy participants judged a gray picture presented on a computer screen (i.e., the room) to be brighter than sad participants. These experiments provide evidence that perceivers' emotions can affect the perception of brightness in a metaphorically consistent manner.
The effect of outdoor vegetation, as seen from the living room's window facing an inner-city ring road, on the self-reported noise annoyance, was studied. Face-to-face surveys were taken at 105 participants at their homes in the city of Ghent (Belgium). The living room window, facing the road, was in all cases highly exposed to road traffic noise and characterized by Lden levels between 65 and 80 dBA, as taken from the official European Environmental Noise Directive's city road traffic noise map. All houses were selected to have a pronounced front-back level difference to rule out this effect. The self-reported extent to which vegetation is visible through the living room window was shown to be a strong and statistically significant predictor of the self-reported noise annoyance. The complete absence of view on vegetation results in a 34% chance of being at least moderately annoyed by noise, while this chance reduced to 8% for respondents answering to have a very pronounced vegetation view, notwithstanding median Lden levels of 73 dBA at the street-facing facade of the dwelling. Real vision on outdoor vegetation was shown to be essential - living room (indoor) plants and the mere presence of vegetation in the neighborhood is insufficient. Road traffic noise facade insulation, measured in-situ at each dwelling, could not be linked to the self-reported noise annoyance.
Based on attention restoration theory we proposed that micro-breaks spent viewing a city scene with a flowering meadow green roof would boost sustained attention. Sustained attention is crucial in daily life and underlies successful cognitive functioning. We compared the effects of 40-second views of two different city scenes on 150 university students’ sustained attention. Participants completed the task at baseline, were randomly assigned to view a flowering meadow green roof or a bare concrete roof, and completed the task again at post-treatment. Participants who briefly viewed the green roof made significantly lower omission errors, and showed more consistent responding to the task compared to participants who viewed the concrete roof. We argue that this reflects boosts to sub-cortical arousal and cortical attention control. Our results extend attention restoration theory by providing direct experimental evidence for the benefits of micro-breaks and for city green roofs.
Psychological and physiological benefits of viewing nature have been extensively studied for some time. More recently it has been suggested that some of these positive effects can be explained by nature's fractal properties. Virtually all studies on human responses to fractals have used stimuli that represent the specific form of fractal geometry found in nature, i.e. statistical fractals, as opposed to fractal patterns which repeat exactly at different scales. This raises the question of whether human responses like preference and relaxation are being driven by fractal geometry in general or by the specific form of fractal geometry found in nature. In this study we consider both types of fractals (statistical and exact) and morph one type into the other. Based on the Koch curve, nine visual stimuli were produced in which curves of three different fractal dimensions evolve gradually from an exact to a statistical fractal. The patterns were shown for one minute each to thirty-five subjects while qEEG was continuously recorded. The results showed that the responses to statistical and exact fractals differ, and that the natural form of the fractal is important for inducing alpha responses, an indicator of a wakefully relaxed state and internalized attention.
A major objective of IERI Project 92 has been the development of a research methodology for studying psychological and related subjective effects of illumination. In this sense, the study has made note of two aspects of human behavior that might be influenced, to some extent, by spatial illumination: (1) the effect of light on subject impression and attitude; and (2) the effect of light on performance and overt behavior. The former effects (subjective impressions) appear to involve a recognition of cues or patterns—and these can be studied by scaling procedures. The latter effects (overt behavior, such as seat or path selection, posture, social behavior, participation in activities, etc.) sometimes involve actions taken in response to the cues and patterns—and these can be studied by mapping procedures. This report will focus specifically on scaling procedures for studying subjective impressions. The intention is to propose a somewhat standardized series of test procedures—so that work by various researchers can be compared, and otherwise contribute to a common base of knowledge and information on the subject.
This paper tests whether people’s sense of connectedness with the natural environment is related to cognitive styles such as Kirton’s adaption-innovation (KAI), and analytic-holistic thinking (AHT). We conducted two studies with Singaporean secondary students as participants. Study 1 (N = 138), using an online survey, established the significant positive relationship between the nature relatedness self subscale and both the KAI and the AHT cognitive styles. Study 2 (N = 185), using pen and paper surveys, replicated Study 1’s findings and found that connectedness with nature was significantly related to both the KAI and the AHT cognitive styles beyond alternative explanations (demographic and well-being status). Students who were more connected with nature preferred innovative and holistic cognitive styles, while controlling for their general emotional status and well-being. These findings are the first to establish the link between connectedness with nature and cognitive styles. Future research and implications are discussed.
Sunlighting or direct-gain passive solar strategies let sunlight penetrate the living space. In environments where the well-being of the building occupant is a salient concern to the designer, this intrusion of sunlight ought to be controlled so that it does not impede the performance of the occupant. This study investigates the impact of window size and different amounts of sunlight penetration on occupant emotional response and degree of satisfaction. Unlike previous sunlight requirement studies, sunlight penetration is measured not in terms of duration, but rather in terms of size of sunlit areas, and therefore as a visual stimulus. The study was performed in an office room of a typical size. It was found that window size did not significantly affect the occupant emotional state or the degree of satisfaction. Sunlight penetration significantly affected the feeling of relaxation when the observer was sitting sideways to the window and the relationship had an inverted U-shape. The study stresses the validity of this novel way of assessing sunlight penetration in terms of size of the sun patches inside the room and its importance as a significant environmental attribute and design parameter that ought to be accounted for during the design of windows in sunlighting or direct-gain passive solar strategies.
The author reviews visual perception studies showing that fractal patterns possess an aesthetic quality based on their visual complexity. Specifically, people display an aesthetic preference for patterns with mid-range fractal dimensions, irrespective of the method used to generate them. The author builds upon these studies by presenting preliminary research indicating that mid-range fractals also affect the observer's physiological condition. The potential for incorporating these fractals into art and architecture as a novel approach to reducing stress is also discussed.
Two experiments investigated the effect of indoor lighting on cognitive performance via mood. Experiment 1 varied two lighting parameters in a factorial, between-subject design: two illuminance levels (dim; 300 lx vs bright; 1500 lx) by two colour temperatures (‘warm’ white; 3000K vs ‘cool’ white; 4000K) at high CRI (Colour Rendering Index; 95). In experiment 2 the parameters of lighting were identical to the first experiment, except for the low CRI (CRI; 55). In both experiments gender was introduced as an additional grouping factor. Results in experiment 1 showed that a colour temperature which induced the least negative mood enhanced the performance in the long-term memory and problem-solving tasks, in both genders. In experiment 2, the combination of colour temperature and illuminance that best preserved the positive mood in one gender enhanced this gender's performance in the problem-solving and free recall tasks. Thus, subjects' mood valences and their cognitive performances varied significantly with the genders' emotionally different reactions to the indoor lighting. This suggests, in practice, that the criteria for good indoor lighting may be revised, taking into account females' and males' emotional and cognitive responses as well.
Since their discovery by Mandelbrot (The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Freeman, New York, 1977), fractals have experienced considerable success in quantifying the complex structure exhibited by many natural patterns and have captured the imaginations of scientists and artists alike. With ever-widening appeal, they have been referred to both as ''fingerprints of nature'' (Nature 399 (1999) 422) and ''the new aesthetics'' (J. Hum. Psychol. 41 (2001) 59). Here, we show that humans display a consistent aesthetic preference across fractal images, regardless of whether these images are generated by nature's processes, by mathematics, or by the human hand. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
We compared psychophysiological stress recovery and directed attention restoration in natural and urban field settings using repeated measures of ambulatory blood pressure, emotion, and attention collected from 112 randomly assigned young adults. To vary restoration needs, we had half of the subjects begin the environmental treatment directly after driving to the field site. The other half completed attentionally demanding tasks just before the treatment. After the drive or the tasks, sitting in a room with tree views promoted more rapid decline in diastolic blood pressure than sitting in a viewless room. Subsequently walking in a nature reserve initially fostered blood pressure change that indicated greater stress reduction than afforded by walking in the urban surroundings. Performance on an attentional test improved slightly from the pretest to the midpoint of the walk in the nature reserve, while it declined in the urban setting. This opened a performance gap that persisted after the walk. Positive affect increased and anger decreased in the nature reserve by the end of the walk; the opposite pattern emerged in the urban environment. The task manipulation affected emotional self-reports. We discuss implications of the results for theories about restorative environments and environmental health promotion measures.
"...a blend of erudition (fascinating and sometimes obscure historical minutiae abound), popularization (mathematical rigor is relegated to appendices) and exposition (the reader need have little knowledge of the fields involved) ...and the illustrations include many superb examples of computer graphics that are works of art in their own right." Nature
The aim of this study was to explore the suggestion that fractal characteristics may play a role in aesthetic experiences by providing possible empirical evidence for connections between landscape preference and fractal properties. This approach was motivated by the knowledge that many natural forms are fractal and that, in preference research, naturalness has been found an important predictor. For reasons described in the paper, in this study we chose to focus on landscape silhouette outlines. The results indicate that there is a relationship between preference and the fractal dimension, which in turn gives rise to the hypothesis that the fractal dimension could provide part of the explanation to the well-documented connection between preference and naturalness.
Preferences for natural and urban environments can be framed in terms of (1) beliefs about the likelihood of psychological restoration during a walk in each type of environment and (2) the evaluation of restoration given differing restoration needs. We conducted an experiment to test hypotheses about restoration as a basis for environmental preferences. Imagining themselves as attentionally fatigued or fully refreshed, participants (N=101) evaluated recovery, reflection, and social stimulation outcomes. Next, they viewed slides simulating a walk through a forest or an urban center, then rated the likelihood of recovery, reflection, and social stimulation outcomes following such a walk. This procedure was repeated with the second environment. Preference for the forest over the city was twice as strong given attentional fatigue. The greater likelihood of restoration in the natural environment in conjunction with more positive evaluation of recovery when fatigued appears to explain this pattern. The results have implications for environmental preference conceptualizations and our understanding of the relationship between preference and restoration.
Computers have led to the remarkable popularity of mathematically-generated fractal patterns. Fractals have also assumed a rapidly expanding role as an art form. Due to their growing impact on cultures around the world and their prevalence in nature, fractals constitute a central feature of our daily visual experiences throughout our lives. This intimate association raises a crucial question - does exposure to fractals have a positive impact on our mental and physical condition? This question raises the opportunity for readers of this journal to have some visual fun. Each year a different nonlinear inspired artist is featured on the front cover of the journal. This year, Scott Draves's fractal art works continues this tradition. In May 2007, we selected twenty of Draves's artworks and invited readers to vote for their favorites from this selection. The most popular images will feature on the front covers this year. In this article, we discuss fractal aesthetics and Draves's remarkable images.
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