Effect of Wood Indoor Environments on Human Psychophysiological Responses and Evaluation Indicators: A Review

What the study found

Across 24 selected experiments, wood exposure generally tended toward more favorable psychological and physiological responses.

Limitations

Only 24 experiments met criteria despite a very large search universe; methods and samples remain heterogeneous.

Neurodesign interpretation

The ratio between thousands of records screened and only a few usable experiments is itself a finding: the marketing confidence around natural materials exceeds the experimental depth.

Possible design implications

Use the small final evidence base as a reason to avoid universal material-health claims.

Why it stays in the corpus

Retain as a second independent 2026 wood evidence map.

Study design

PRISMA review of 16,148 records

Population

Humans across 24 experimental studies

Setting

Interior environments

Field

Materials, biophilia

Mechanism

Physiological relaxation, emotional stability

Spatial variable

Wood interior environments

Keywords

wood, interiors, psychophysiology, systematic review