School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland, 3835 Campus Drive, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 11;11(1):5644. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85210-9.
Even though people spend the majority of their time indoors, the role of buildings in shaping human experience is still not well understood. The objective of this experimental project is to develop, test, and validate a data-driven neuroscience approach to understand the built environment's impact on occupant cognitive function and mental health. The present study utilized virtual environments and electroencephalogram (EEG) and event-related potential (ERP) approaches, to provide objective neurophysiological information about how sustainable buildings (SBs) impact people's affective and cognitive functioning differently compared to conventional building (CBs). The long-term goal is to assess the validity of sustainable building design protocols in promoting and increasing mental health and well-being and the mechanism used to accomplish these increases. The findings showed test subjects demonstrated increased visual system engagement and modulated attentional focus and control processing in the SB compared to the CB environments. The findings can be explained by the cognitive load theory, which is consistent with the interpretation of greater focus on the present environment and reduced internal mental processing (cf. mindfulness), based on the observed increased theta/delta activities and greater engagement of visual systems and corresponding decreases in frontal activity in the SB environment. In addition, the combination of virtual environment (VE) and EEG/ERP has the potential to advance design methods by soliciting occupants' responses prior to completion of the projects. Building design is more than aesthetics; expanding the horizon for neuroscience would eventually result in a new knowledge base for building design, particularly sustainable building design, since the sustainability of the building often needs to be quantified.
尽管人们大部分时间都在室内度过，但建筑对人类体验的影响仍未得到充分理解。本实验项目的目的是开发、测试和验证一种数据驱动的神经科学方法，以了解建筑环境对居住者认知功能和心理健康的影响。本研究利用虚拟现实环境和脑电图（EEG）和事件相关电位（ERP）方法，提供关于可持续建筑（SBs）与传统建筑（CBs）相比如何以不同方式影响人们情感和认知功能的客观神经生理学信息。长期目标是评估可持续建筑设计方案在促进和增加心理健康和幸福感方面的有效性，以及实现这些增加所使用的机制。研究结果表明，与 CB 环境相比，测试对象在 SB 中表现出增强的视觉系统参与度和调节的注意力焦点和控制处理。这一发现可以用认知负荷理论来解释，这与对当前环境的更大关注以及减少内部心理处理（如正念）的解释一致，这是基于观察到的 theta/delta 活动增加以及 SB 环境中视觉系统的更大参与度和相应的额叶活动减少。此外，虚拟现实环境（VE）和 EEG/ERP 的结合有可能通过在项目完成之前征求居住者的反应来推进设计方法。建筑设计不仅仅是美学；拓展神经科学的视野最终将为建筑设计，特别是可持续建筑设计，建立一个新的知识库，因为建筑的可持续性往往需要量化。
