Window View and the Brain: Effects of Floor Level and Green Cover on the Alpha and Beta Rhythms in a Passive Exposure EEG Experiment

Abstract

With the growing interest among researchers, practitioners, and urban decision makers in the influence of the built environment on peoples’ health, there is increasing emphasis on using scientific knowledge to inform urban design, including methods of neuroscience. As window views are the most immediate medium of visual connection with one’s neighbourhood, we surmised that the quality of this view would have an impact on the mental health and well-being of urban dwellers. Accordingly, we investigated how window views taken from different floors of a high-rise block with varying extents of green cover affected 29 healthy residents in an exploratory electroencephalography (EEG) experiment. The results showed that the amount of green cover within the view captured at different floor levels can cause an important interaction effect on the frontal alpha and temporal beta brain oscillations while participants view photographs. These results suggest that the brainwave patterns commonly associated with positive emotional states, motivation, and visual attention mechanisms may be increased by the extent of green cover within the view. This phenomenon seems more pronounced on the higher than lower floors. The observed findings at this stage cannot confirm major effects between floor level, green cover, and brainwaves, however, they emphasize the importance of considering the quality of window views in the planning and design of urban high-rise neighbourhoods. Having a green window view can potentially contribute to the mental health and well-being of urban dwellers.

Effects of Changes to Architectural Elements on Human Relaxation-Arousal Responses: Based on VR and EEG

“…Studies of changes in brain waves in environmental and spatial stimuli have been conducted on a variety of topics, including studies of human emotions and relationships with architectural space [ 36 , 37 , 38 ], stress and anxiety [ 11 , 39 , 40 ], studies of positive and negative emotions [ 41 , 42 ], concentration and attention [ 43 , 44 ], and cognitive and emotional processing [ 9 , 14 , 45 ]. These studies have demonstrated that EEG is an appropriate tool for achieving research objectives.…”

“…Yasuhisa et al (2020) exposed each image stimulus for 6 seconds [ 67 ], whereas Wei-Yin et al (2019) presented 60 photos at random for 20 seconds [ 68 ]. Agnieszka et al (2018) presented 36 images at random for 10 seconds [ 41 ]. In this study, we interviewed the participants in the pilot experiment and found it took them 10 s to perceive a space without dozing off.…”

The Effect of Indoor Daylight Levels on Patients Admitted to General Surgery

“…Second, this study was not able to include more individualized factors such as social and cultural differences, daylight preferences, preferred activity, etc. Third, not only is the indoor daylight intensity able to in uence the physiological condition of patients, but also the window view itself can generate positive physiological effects [28][29][30]. Our study cannot rule out the fact the possibility that the window view might play a more important role in affecting illiterate patients' recovery.…”

Cognitive and perceptual influences of architectural and urban environments with an emphasis on the experimental procedures and techniques

“…Patches in prefrontal areas were also involved in processing the number of street intersections. Using EEG, Olszewska-Guizzo et al (2015) [43] investigated how window views taken from different floors of a high-rise block with varying extents of green cover can impact the brainwaves of viewers. Their findings revealed the association between brainwave patterns and positive emotional states, motivation, and visual attention that may increase by the extent of green cover within window views from different floors of a high-rise block.…”