Emotional Responses to Multisensory Environmental Stimuli

How we perceive our environment affects the way we feel and behave.The impressions of our ambient environment are influenced by its entire spectrum ofphysical characteristics (e.g., luminosity, sound, scents, temperature) in a dynamic andinteractive way. The ability to manipulate the sensory aspects of an environment suchthat people feel comfortable or exhibit a desired behavior is gaining interest andsocial relevance. Although much is known about the sensory effects of individualenvironmental characteristics, their combined effects are not a priori evident due to awide range of non-linear interactions in the processing of sensory cues. As a result, itis currently not known how different environmental characteristics should be combined toeffectively induce desired emotional and behavioral effects. To gain more insight intothis matter, we performed a literature review on the emotional effects of multisensorystimulation. Although we found some interesting mechanisms, the outcome also revealsthat empirical evidence is still scarce and haphazard. To stimulate further discussionand research, we propose a conceptual framework that describes how environmentalinterventions are likely to affect human emotional responses. This framework leads tosome critical research questions that suggest opportunities for furtherinvestigation