When Neuroscience ‘Touches’ Architecture: From Hapticity to a Supramodal Functioning of the Human Brain

Abstract

In the last decades, the rapid growth of functional brain imaging methodologies allowed cognitive neuroscience to address open questions in philosophy and social sciences. At the same time, novel insights from cognitive neuroscience research have begun to influence various disciplines, leading to a turn to cognition and emotion in the fields of planning and architectural design. Since 2003, the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture has been supporting ‘neuro-architecture’ as a way to connect neuroscience and the study of behavioral responses to the built environment. Among the many topics related to multisensory perceptual integration and embodiment, the concept of hapticity was recently introduced, suggesting a pivotal role of tactile perception and haptic imagery in architectural appraisal. Arguments have thus risen in favor of the existence of shared cognitive foundations between hapticity and the supramodal functional architecture of the human brain. Precisely, supramodality refers to the functional feature of defined brain regions to process and represent specific information content in a more abstract way, independently of the sensory modality conveying such information to the brain. Here, we highlight some commonalities and differences between the concepts of hapticity and supramodality according to the distinctive perspectives of architecture and cognitive neuroscience. This comparison and connection between these two different approaches may lead to novel observations in regard to people–environment relationships, and even provide empirical foundations for a renewed evidence-based design theory.

Spectral and topological analyses of the cortical representation of the head position: Does hypnotizability matter?

“…Nonetheless, since the occipital increases in beta and gamma were bilateral and symmetric, we hypothesize that they could be due also to a supramodal representation of the sensory and imaginative context, independent from the specific sensory modality (Bonino et al, 2015;Papale, Chiesi, Rampinini, Pietrini, & Ricciardi, 2016).…”

“…A contribution of the occipital region, may be due to cross‐modal sensory activation (Heimler, Striem‐Amit, & Amedi, ) which has been observed in several experimental protocols such as sighted adults who recruit the ventral visual cortex during tactile Braille reading (Bola et al., ) and, for the auditory modality, congenitally deaf subjects showing activation of the auditory cortex during tactile stimulation (Levänen, Jousmäki, & Hari, ; Poirier et al., ). Nonetheless, since the occipital increases in beta and gamma were bilateral and symmetric, we hypothesize that they could be due also to a supramodal representation of the sensory and imaginative context, independent from the specific sensory modality (Bonino et al., ; Papale, Chiesi, Rampinini, Pietrini, & Ricciardi, ).…”

Spectral and topological analysis of the cortical representation of the head position: does hypnotizability matter?

“…A contribution of the occipital region may be due to cross-modal sensory activation [Heimler et al, 2015] which has been observed in several experi-mental protocols such as sighted adults who recruit the ventral visual cortex during tactile Braille reading [Bola et al, 2016] and, for the auditory modality, congenitally deaf subjects showing activation of the auditory cortex during tactile stimulation [Levänen et al, 1998, Poirier et al, 2005. Nonetheless, since the occipital increases in beta and gamma were bilateral and symmetric, we hypothesize that they could be due also to a supra-modal representation of the sensory context, independent from the specific sensory modality [Bonino et al, 2015, Papale et al, 2016. The other process that is the sensory-motor representation of the rotated head could have its correlates in the asymmetric increases in beta2, beta3 and gamma power in the medio-anterior region [Turella et al, 2016, van Ede et al, 2014.…”

From Savannas to Settlements: Exploring Cognitive Foundations for the Design of Urban Spaces

“…(Pasqualini et al, 2013; Vartanian et al, 2015; Vecchiato et al, 2015). These studies indicate widespread engagement of not only typical navigational networks, but widespread regions involved in affective and emotive judgements (Vartanian et al, 2015; Vecchiato et al, 2015; Papale et al, 2016). …”