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Effects of biophilic interventions in office on stress reaction and cognitive function: A randomized crossover study in virtual reality
Author(s) -
Yin Jie,
Arfaei Nastaran,
MacNaughton Piers,
Catalano Paul J.,
Allen Joseph G.,
Spengler John D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12593
Subject(s) - creativity , crossover study , virtual reality , psychological intervention , cognition , psychology , affect (linguistics) , simulation , workspace , applied psychology , cognitive psychology , human–computer interaction , social psychology , engineering , computer science , communication , medicine , artificial intelligence , alternative medicine , pathology , neuroscience , psychiatry , robot , placebo
Biophilia hypothesis suggests humans have an innate connection to nature which may affect our health and productivity. Yet we currently live in a world that is rapidly urbanizing with people spending most of their time indoors. We designed a randomized crossover study to let 30 participants experience three versions of biophilic design in simulated open and enclosed office spaces in virtual reality (VR). Throughout the VR session, we measured blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin conductance level and administered cognitive tests to measure their reaction time and creativity. Compared to the base case, participants in three spaces with biophilic elements had consistently lower level of physiological stress indicators and higher creativity scores. In addition, we captured the variation in the intensity of virtual exposure to biophilic elements by using eye‐tracking technology. These results suggest that biophilic interventions could help reduce stress and improve creativity. Moreover, those effects are related to both the types of biophilic elements and may be different based on the workspace type (open vs enclosed). This research demonstrates that VR‐simulated office spaces are useful in differentiating responses to two configurations and among biophilic elements.