NEURODESIGN® · RESEARCH

The evidence base

Every claim in the series, with the literature it rests on. The list is generated from the essays themselves, so it cannot quietly diverge from what they cite.

Claims are split by whether their sources carry a DOI. That is a statement about indexing rather than a verdict on quality: a World Health Organization guideline has no DOI and is stronger than most single studies. It does mean the second group is harder for a reader to check, which is why it is listed apart instead of blended in.

claims
39
sources
74
unique DOIs
17
DOI-backed
27/39

Backed by indexed literature

Each of these rests on at least one study with a DOI, linked below. Following the link is the fastest way to check whether the essay represents the finding fairly.

  1. 01

    Vagus Pathway

    Recovery from a stressor was faster and more complete when subjects viewed natural rather than urban scenes, and was underway within about four minutes (Ulrich et al., 1991).

    1. Ulrich, R. S., Simons, R. F., Losito, B. D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M. A., and Zelson, M. (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11(3), 201-230. doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80184-7

  2. 02

    Door Handle as Ritual

    Pallasmaa calls the door handle the handshake of the building: the first material contact, arriving at the exact moment the mind opens a new episode.

    1. Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. John Wiley and Sons, third edition.
    2. Zacks, J. M., Speer, N. K., Swallow, K. M., Braver, T. S., and Reynolds, J. R. (2007). Event perception: a mind-brain perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 133(2), 273-293. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.2.273

  3. 03

    Stairs as Cognitive Rituals

    How a person segments an ongoing activity predicts what they later remember of it, and transitions are where the segment boundaries fall (Zacks et al., 2007).

    1. Zacks, J. M., Speer, N. K., Swallow, K. M., Braver, T. S., and Reynolds, J. R. (2007). Event perception: a mind-brain perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 133(2), 273-293. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.2.273
    2. Radvansky, G. A., Krawietz, S. A., and Tamplin, A. K. (2011). Walking through doorways causes forgetting: further explorations. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(8), 1632-1645. doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2011.571267

  4. 04

    Window as a Cognitive Portal

    Surgical patients with a view of trees had shorter postoperative stays and took fewer strong analgesics than those facing a brick wall (Ulrich, 1984).

    1. Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421. doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402
    2. Ulrich, R. S., Simons, R. F., Losito, B. D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M. A., and Zelson, M. (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11(3), 201-230. doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80184-7
    3. Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169-182.
    4. Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., and Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. PNAS, 112(28), 8567-8572. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1510459112

  5. 05

    Ceiling Effect

    Eight foot versus ten foot ceilings shifted participants between item-specific and relational processing across three experiments (Meyers-Levy and Zhu, 2007).

    1. Meyers-Levy, J., and Zhu, R. (2007). The influence of ceiling height: the effect of priming on the type of processing that people use. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(2), 174-186. doi.org/10.1086/519146

  6. 06

    Corner Instinct

    Appleton's prospect-refuge theory holds that people prefer positions allowing them to see without being seen; the empirical record supports the direction while testing built interiors far less than landscapes.

    1. Appleton, J. (1975). The Experience of Landscape. John Wiley and Sons.
    2. Dosen, A. S., and Ostwald, M. J. (2016). Evidence for prospect-refuge theory: a meta-analysis of the findings of environmental preference research. City, Territory and Architecture, 3. doi.org/10.1186/s40410-016-0033-1

  7. 09

    Biophilic Code

    Directed attention is a finite resource that fatigues with use, and recovers in environments offering being away, extent, fascination, and compatibility (Kaplan, 1995).

    1. Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421. doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402
    2. Ulrich, R. S., Simons, R. F., Losito, B. D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M. A., and Zelson, M. (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11(3), 201-230. doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80184-7
    3. Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169-182.
    4. Hagerhall, C. M., Laike, T., Taylor, R. P., Kuller, M., Kuller, R., and Martin, T. P. (2008). Investigations of human EEG response to viewing fractal patterns. Perception, 37(10), 1488-1494.

  8. 10

    Threshold Effect

    Perception is continuously parsed into events, and physical boundaries are among the strongest cues the system uses to draw them (Zacks et al., 2007).

    1. Zacks, J. M., Speer, N. K., Swallow, K. M., Braver, T. S., and Reynolds, J. R. (2007). Event perception: a mind-brain perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 133(2), 273-293. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.2.273
    2. Radvansky, G. A., Krawietz, S. A., and Tamplin, A. K. (2011). Walking through doorways causes forgetting: further explorations. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(8), 1632-1645. doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2011.571267

  9. 12

    The Subconscious City

    Current city living was associated with greater amygdala activity under social stress, urban upbringing with greater perigenual anterior cingulate activity (Lederbogen et al., 2011).

    1. Lederbogen, F., Kirsch, P., Haddad, L., et al. (2011). City living and urban upbringing affect neural social stress processing in humans. Nature, 474, 498-501. doi.org/10.1038/nature10190
    2. Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., and Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. PNAS, 112(28), 8567-8572. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1510459112

  10. 13

    Shadows and Light

    Ambient illumination is reported directly to the circadian clock by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, making a building's light a temporal instruction as well as a visual one (Berson et al., 2002).

    1. Berson, D. M., Dunn, F. A., and Takao, M. (2002). Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock. Science, 295(5557), 1070-1073. doi.org/10.1126/science.1067262
    2. Chang, A. M., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., and Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. PNAS, 112(4), 1232-1237. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418490112

  11. 15

    Invisible Boundaries

    Hall's proxemic zones run roughly intimate to eighteen inches, personal to four feet, social to ten, and public beyond, with the calibration culturally learned rather than universal (Hall, 1966).

    1. Hall, E. T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. Doubleday. Distance figures are Hall's approximate American norms; he stressed their cultural variability.
    2. Zacks, J. M., Speer, N. K., Swallow, K. M., Braver, T. S., and Reynolds, J. R. (2007). Event perception: a mind-brain perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 133(2), 273-293. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.2.273

  12. 16

    Scent and Memory

    Autobiographical memories cued by odor were rated more emotional and evoked greater amygdala activation than the same memories cued visually or verbally (Herz et al., 2004).

    1. Herz, R. S., Eliassen, J., Beland, S., and Souza, T. (2004). Neuroimaging evidence for the emotional potency of odor-evoked memory. Neuropsychologia, 42(3), 371-378. doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(03)00216-1

  13. 17

    Doorway Effect

    Memory declined when participants carried objects through a doorway, and did not decline walking the same distance within one room (Radvansky, Krawietz and Tamplin, 2011).

    1. Radvansky, G. A., Krawietz, S. A., and Tamplin, A. K. (2011). Walking through doorways causes forgetting: further explorations. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(8), 1632-1645. doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2011.571267
    2. Zacks, J. M., Speer, N. K., Swallow, K. M., Braver, T. S., and Reynolds, J. R. (2007). Event perception: a mind-brain perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 133(2), 273-293. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.2.273

  14. 18

    Color Temperature

    Evening reading from a light-emitting device suppressed melatonin, delayed circadian timing, reduced and delayed REM sleep, and lowered next-morning alertness against a printed book (Chang et al., 2015).

    1. Berson, D. M., Dunn, F. A., and Takao, M. (2002). Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock. Science, 295(5557), 1070-1073. doi.org/10.1126/science.1067262
    2. Hattar, S., Liao, H. W., Takao, M., Berson, D. M., and Yau, K. W. (2002). Melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cells: architecture, projections, and intrinsic photosensitivity. Science, 295(5557), 1065-1070. doi.org/10.1126/science.1069609
    3. Chang, A. M., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., and Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. PNAS, 112(4), 1232-1237. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418490112

  15. 19

    Curved vs. Angular Spaces

    Curvilinear spaces were judged more beautiful and engaged the anterior cingulate cortex, but contour had no effect on approach-avoidance decisions (Vartanian et al., 2013).

    1. Vartanian, O., Navarrete, G., Chatterjee, A., Fich, L. B., Leder, H., Modrono, C., Nadal, M., Rostrup, N., and Skov, M. (2013). Impact of contour on aesthetic judgments and approach-avoidance decisions in architecture. PNAS, 110(Supplement 2), 10446-10453. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1301227110

  16. 20

    High vs. Low Ceilings

    Rooms with higher ceilings were more likely to be judged beautiful and preferentially engaged structures involved in visuospatial exploration (Vartanian et al., 2015).

    1. Vartanian, O., et al. (2015). Architectural design and the brain: effects of ceiling height and perceived enclosure on beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 41, 10-18. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.11.006
    2. Meyers-Levy, J., and Zhu, R. (2007). The influence of ceiling height: the effect of priming on the type of processing that people use. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(2), 174-186. doi.org/10.1086/519146

  17. 21

    Symmetry vs. Asymmetry

    Aesthetic response tracks processing fluency: symmetry, contrast, and repetition all reduce to how easily a perceiver can process the object (Reber, Schwarz and Winkielman, 2004).

    1. Reber, R., Schwarz, N., and Winkielman, P. (2004). Processing fluency and aesthetic pleasure: is beauty in the perceiver's processing experience?. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(4), 364-382.
    2. Vartanian, O., et al. (2013). Impact of contour on aesthetic judgments and approach-avoidance decisions in architecture. PNAS, 110(Supplement 2), 10446-10453. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1301227110

  18. 22

    Alcoves

    Partial enclosure at the scale of one or two bodies delivers a concentrated version of refuge: it takes the watching duties off the nervous system.

    1. Appleton, J. (1975). The Experience of Landscape. John Wiley and Sons.
    2. Dosen, A. S., and Ostwald, M. J. (2016). Evidence for prospect-refuge theory: a meta-analysis of the findings of environmental preference research. City, Territory and Architecture, 3. doi.org/10.1186/s40410-016-0033-1

  19. 23

    Memory Palaces

    London taxi drivers had significantly larger posterior hippocampi than controls, with volume correlating with time spent driving (Maguire et al., 2000).

    1. Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. J., and Frith, C. D. (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. PNAS, 97(8), 4398-4403. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.070039597
    2. Yates, F. A. (1966). The Art of Memory. Routledge and Kegan Paul.

  20. 28

    Geometry of Power

    The distance at which an encounter begins sets its register, which is why a long approach to a desk converts a visitor into a petitioner before a word is spoken (after Hall, 1966).

    1. Hall, E. T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. Doubleday.
    2. Vartanian, O., et al. (2015). Architectural design and the brain: effects of ceiling height and perceived enclosure on beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 41, 10-18. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.11.006

  21. 29

    Dynamic Neuromorphic Design

    The near-term craft is to design the ranges rather than the automation: the occupant is the sensor, and architecture's job is to give their state somewhere to go.

    1. Berson, D. M., Dunn, F. A., and Takao, M. (2002). Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock. Science, 295(5557), 1070-1073. doi.org/10.1126/science.1067262
    2. Chang, A. M., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., and Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. PNAS, 112(4), 1232-1237. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418490112
    3. Wood, W., and Neal, D. T. (2007). A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. Psychological Review, 114(4), 843-863. doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.843

  22. 30

    Hyperdimensional Space Perception

    Depth cues report the existence of more, and the spatial system books the reported more as experienced volume. A layered plan is a plot; a fully visible one is a spoiler.

    1. Vartanian, O., et al. (2015). Architectural design and the brain: effects of ceiling height and perceived enclosure on beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 41, 10-18. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.11.006

  23. 31

    Infinite Space

    Open rooms were more likely to be judged beautiful and activated structures underlying perceived visual motion, while enclosed rooms elicited exit decisions (Vartanian et al., 2015).

    1. Vartanian, O., et al. (2015). Architectural design and the brain: effects of ceiling height and perceived enclosure on beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 41, 10-18. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.11.006
    2. Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169-182.
    3. Appleton, J. (1975). The Experience of Landscape. John Wiley and Sons.

  24. 35

    Metabolic Cost of Complexity

    In illegible buildings people slow down, make errors, retrace, and report stress out of all proportion to the actual stakes.

    1. Jamshidi, S., Hashemi, S., and Tran, D. T. (2025). Costs and effects of ineffective wayfinding in US hospitals: a survey of hospital staff. HERD: Health Environments Research and Design Journal. doi.org/10.1177/19375867251317240
    2. Lynch, K. (1960). The Image of the City. MIT Press.

  25. 36

    Emotional Gravity

    Once a habit forms, perception of the context triggers the response directly, which is why a favourite chair stops being chosen and starts producing the behaviour (Wood and Neal, 2007).

    1. Appleton, J. (1975). The Experience of Landscape. John Wiley and Sons.
    2. Wood, W., and Neal, D. T. (2007). A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. Psychological Review, 114(4), 843-863. doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.843
    3. Dosen, A. S., and Ostwald, M. J. (2016). Evidence for prospect-refuge theory: a meta-analysis of the findings of environmental preference research. City, Territory and Architecture, 3. doi.org/10.1186/s40410-016-0033-1

  26. 38

    Cognitive Palimpsests

    Durable behavioural change depends on repeated actions performed in stable contexts, and stable contexts are buildings (Wood and Neal, 2007).

    1. Wood, W., and Neal, D. T. (2007). A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. Psychological Review, 114(4), 843-863. doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.843
    2. Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. J., and Frith, C. D. (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. PNAS, 97(8), 4398-4403. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.070039597
    3. Herz, R. S., Eliassen, J., Beland, S., and Souza, T. (2004). Neuroimaging evidence for the emotional potency of odor-evoked memory. Neuropsychologia, 42(3), 371-378. doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(03)00216-1

  27. 39

    Spatial Memory

    Remembering and navigating share hardware: the hippocampus is both the mapmaker and the structure without which new episodic memories cannot form.

    1. Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. J., and Frith, C. D. (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. PNAS, 97(8), 4398-4403. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.070039597
    2. O'Keefe, J., and Dostrovsky, J. (1971). The hippocampus as a spatial map: preliminary evidence from unit activity in the freely-moving rat. Brain Research. The discovery of place cells, recognised with the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared with May-Britt and Edvard Moser.

Resting on books, guidelines, or reports

No DOI-indexed study is cited for these yet. Some rest on foundational books that predate DOIs, some on standards bodies. Treat them as the weaker part of the series and read the sources directly.

  1. 07

    Acoustics of Calm

    The WHO recommends night noise exposure below 45 dB Lnight for road traffic, on evidence linking higher levels to sleep disturbance and cardiovascular effects (WHO Europe, 2018).

    1. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (2018). Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region.
    2. Banbury, S., and Berry, D. C. (1998). Disruption of office-related tasks by speech and office noise. British Journal of Psychology, 89(3), 499-517.

  2. 08

    Material Memory

    Vision proposes and touch decides: Pallasmaa's argument that the integrating sense is the one no photograph consults.

    1. Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. John Wiley and Sons, third edition.

  3. 11

    Silence

    What restores is not zero sound but quiet with a floor under it: a low, steady baseline against which small sounds are legible rather than alarming.

    1. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (2018). Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region.
    2. Banbury, S., and Berry, D. C. (1998). Disruption of office-related tasks by speech and office noise. British Journal of Psychology, 89(3), 499-517.

  4. 14

    Fractals

    EEG responses to fractal patterns vary with fractal dimension, and preference across this literature concentrates in the middle of the range rather than at either extreme (Hagerhall et al., 2008).

    1. Hagerhall, C. M., Laike, T., Taylor, R. P., Kuller, M., Kuller, R., and Martin, T. P. (2008). Investigations of human EEG response to viewing fractal patterns. Perception, 37(10), 1488-1494.

  5. 24

    Neural Synchronization

    Visual and haptic texture information interact in early sensory cortex, which places multisensory integration earlier in processing than deliberate inference would require (Eck, Kaas and Goebel, 2013).

    1. Eck, J., Kaas, A. L., and Goebel, R. (2013). Crossmodal interactions of haptic and visual texture information in early sensory cortex. NeuroImage.

  6. 25

    Tactile Surfaces

    Twelve to fifteen surfaces carry almost the entire tactile experience of a building, which is why the budget required to get them right is small and the return is daily.

    1. Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. John Wiley and Sons, third edition.

  7. 26

    Perceptual Fractals

    A landscape holds interest at every viewing distance because it is organised at every scale; a room composed at one scale only is fully seen on the first look.

    1. Hagerhall, C. M., Laike, T., Taylor, R. P., Kuller, M., Kuller, R., and Martin, T. P. (2008). Investigations of human EEG response to viewing fractal patterns. Perception, 37(10), 1488-1494.

  8. 27

    Acoustic Shadows

    Under sustained noise the auditory system holds the whole organism at slightly elevated readiness, and stress physiology runs a continuous surcharge.

    1. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (2018). Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region.
    2. Banbury, S., and Berry, D. C. (1998). Disruption of office-related tasks by speech and office noise. British Journal of Psychology, 89(3), 499-517.

  9. 32

    Haptic Shadow Effect

    Surfaces are touched by everyone who merely looks at them: tactile character is partly delivered through vision alone, continuously and at a distance.

    1. Eck, J., Kaas, A. L., and Goebel, R. (2013). Crossmodal interactions of haptic and visual texture information in early sensory cortex. NeuroImage.

  10. 33

    Subsonic Resonance

    Residents of buildings with low-frequency mechanical noise rarely complain about sound. They complain about the room, because the source sits below the threshold where causes acquire names.

    1. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (2018). Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region.
    2. Tandy, V., and Lawrence, T. (1998). The ghost in the machine. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 62. A single case report in a non-mainstream journal. Cited as the origin of the idea, not as evidence for it.

  11. 34

    Neural Latency of Light

    IEEE 1789 lists headaches, eyestrain, fatigue, migraine and reduced visual task performance among the potential effects of temporal light modulation.

    1. IEEE Standard 1789-2015 (2015). IEEE Recommended Practices for Modulating Current in High-Brightness LEDs for Mitigating Health Risks to Viewers.

  12. 37

    Perceptual Thresholds

    Below the just noticeable difference, changes happen without an audience. Unreportable is not the same as unregistered.

    1. Fechner, G. T. (1860). Elemente der Psychophysik. Breitkopf und Hartel.

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