Encoding Pleasant and Unpleasant Expression of the Architectural Window Shapes: An ERP Study

Abstract

The evaluation of building facades is one of the most important elements in built environments for helping architects and professionals to develop future designs. The form or shape of windows in building facades has direct impacts on perceivers’ affective state and emotions. To understand the impacts of geometric windows on the subject’s feedback and cortical activity, psychophysics experiments and electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were measured from the participants. Our behavioral results show a distinguished categorization of the window shapes as pleasant and unpleasant stimuli. The rectangular, square, circular and semi-circular arch were determined as the pleasant window shapes, while the triangular and triangular arch window shapes were distinguished as unpleasant. Furthermore, event-related potential (ERP) components (N1, P2 and P3) were investigated to determine the influence of window shapes on the local brain activity. To measure reliable cortical responses, a Butterworth notch filter (50 Hz), band pass filter (0.1–60 Hz) and ADJUST filter were employed to remove the artifacts. The electrophysiological results show increased activity for the unpleasant in comparison to the pleasant windows ( p < 0.05, Rank-Sum test) in both frontal (for P2 component) and posterio-occipital (ERP amplitudes; the N1 through to the P3 peak) channels. The ERP amplitudes of the right hemisphere were significantly larger than in the left hemisphere, not only in response to the unpleasant ( p < 0.001) but also to the pleasant window stimuli ( p < 0.001, Signed-Rank test). However, the unpleasant stimuli evoked significantly larger ERP amplitude than the pleasant stimuli. Moreover, the significant ERP P2 amplitude was more distinguished for unpleasant ( p = 0.01, Signed-Rank test) than pleasant windows ( p = 0.01, Rank-Sum test) between frontal and central cortical lobes. Overall, our behavioral and electrophysiological studies demonstrate a distinguished categorization of pleasant and unpleasant window shapes and more significant ERP modulations in the right than left hemisphere for unpleasant windows compared to pleasant ones.

The Embodiment of Architectural Experience: A Methodological Perspective on Neuro-Architecture

“…Their behavioral results showed that rectangular, square, circular and semi-circular arches were considered as pleasant window shapes, while windows with triangle and triangular arches were determined as unpleasant. Regarding ERP results, the authors found that the effect of pleasant stimuli was larger in the left hemisphere than that of unpleasant ones ( Naghibi Rad et al, 2019 ), consistent with previous notions of lateralization with regards to emotional processes ( Dimond and Farrington, 1977 ; Reuter-Lorenz and Davidson, 1981 ; Canli et al, 1998 ). By using physiological sensors, such as EEG, Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), and eye-tracking (ET), Shemesh et al (2021) examined the connection between geometrical aspects of architectural spaces (such as scale, proportion, protrusion, and curvature) and the user’s emotional state in expert and non-expert participants (designers and non-designers, respectively).…”

“…As there are too many studies in this area to report in detail [for an overview see Higuera-Trujillo et al (2021) ], the following exemplary studies suffice to provide the reader with a broad sense of the research questions and imaging methods used in this field. For example, using EEG in a psychophysics experiment, Naghibi Rad et al (2019) investigated the impact that window shapes in building facades had on the perceivers’ emotional state and cortical activity. Their behavioral results showed that rectangular, square, circular and semi-circular arches were considered as pleasant window shapes, while windows with triangle and triangular arches were determined as unpleasant.…”

Shape familiarity modulates preference for curvature in drawings of common-use objects

“…For instance, utility, familiarity and/or hedonism might be factors that contribute to generally preferring common-use objects with curved contours over sharp-angled ones ( Bar & Neta, 2006 ; Bar & Neta, 2007 ; Munar et al, 2015 ). Preference for curvature was shown using drawings of car interiors ( Leder & Carbon, 2005 ), pictures of windows ( Naghibi Rad et al, 2019 ), furniture ( Dazkir & Read, 2012 ), product packaging ( Westerman et al, 2012 ), exterior façades ( Ruta et al, 2019 ) and interior architectural environments ( Van Oel & Van den Berkhof, 2013 ; Vartanian et al, 2013 ; Vartanian et al, 2017 ), among others. While most of these stimuli involve representational content, preference for curvature was also found using non-representational art-related stimuli such as abstract artworks ( Ruta et al, 2021 ) or abstract shapes and patterns ( Bertamini et al, 2016 ; Bertamini et al, 2019 ).…”

Exploring Methodological Approaches of Experimental Studies in the Field of Neuroarchitecture: A Systematic Review

“…This category includes seven studies exploring the effects of specific environmental characteristics that were designed in a laboratory setting by using different measurement tools, four of these studies used EEG as the main brain measurement tool and stimuli were also presented in the form of both images and videos. Naghibi Rad et al (2019) employed EEG to investigate the subjects’ emotional response to geometrical window shapes of building facades marked as either pleasant or unpleasant (Naghibi Rad et al, 2019). In another study, Hakak et al (2016) simulated some videos of architectural environments as stimuli to investigate different perceptions of the spatial environments and their influence on the precentral gyrus by concentrating on three different categories of environments (fully designed, semi-designed, and abstract designed; Hakak et al, 2016).…”