Neuroscience and architecture: Modulating behavior through sensorimotor responses to the built environment

Embodied hyperscanning for studying social interaction: A scoping review of simultaneous brain and body measurements

We systematically investigated the application of embodied hyperscanning methodologies in social neuroscience research. Hyperscanning enables the simultaneous recording of neurophysiological and physiological signals from multiple participants. We highlight the trend toward integrating Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) within the 4E research framework, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of brain, body, and environment. Our analysis revealed a geographic concentration of studies in the Global North, calling for global collaboration and transcultural research to balance the field. The predominant use of Magneto/Electroencephalogram (M/EEG) in these studies suggests a traditional brain-centric perspective in social neuroscience. Future research directions should focus on integrating diverse techniques to capture the dynamic interplay between brain and body functions in real-world contexts. Our review also finds a preference for tasks involving natural settings. Nevertheless, the analysis in hyperscanning studies is often limited to physiological signal synchrony between participants. This suggests a need for more holistic and complex approaches that combine inter-corporeal synchrony with intra-individual measures. We believe that the future of the neuroscience of relationships lies in embracing the complexity of cognition, integrating diverse methods and theories to enrich our grasp of human social behavior in its natural contexts.

Spatial Contextual Information Modulates Affordance Processing and Early Electrophysiological Markers of Scene Perception

Scene perception allows humans to extract information from their environment and plan navigation efficiently. The automatic extraction of potential paths in a scene, also referred to as navigational affordance, is supported by scene-selective regions (SSRs) that enable efficient human navigation. Recent evidence suggests that the activity of these SSRs can be influenced by information from adjacent spatial memory areas. However, it remains unexplored how this contextual information could influence the extraction of bottom-up information, such as navigational affordances, from a scene and the underlying neural dynamics. Therefore, we analyzed ERPs in 26 young adults performing scene and spatial memory tasks in artificially generated rooms with varying numbers and locations of available doorways. We found that increasing the number of navigational affordances only impaired performance in the spatial memory task. ERP results showed a similar pattern of activity for both tasks, but with increased P2 amplitude in the spatial memory task compared with the scene memory. Finally, we reported no modulation of the P2 component by the number of affordances in either task. This modulation of early markers of visual processing suggests that the dynamics of SSR activity are influenced by a priori knowledge, with increased amplitude when participants have more contextual information about the perceived scene. Overall, our results suggest that prior spatial knowledge about the scene, such as the location of a goal, modulates early cortical activity associated with SSRs, and that this information may interact with bottom-up processing of scene content, such as navigational affordances.

Human brain dynamics dissociate early perceptual and late motor-related stages of affordance processing

Affordances, the opportunities for action offered by the environment to an agent, are vital for meaningful behaviour and exist in every interaction with the environment. There is an ongoing debate in the field about whether the perception of affordances is an automated process. Some studies suggest that affordance perception is an automated process that is independent from the visual context and bodily interaction with the environment, whereas others argue that it is modulated by the visual and motor context in which affordances are perceived. The present paper aims to resolve this debate by examining affordance automaticity from the perspective of sensorimotor time windows. To investigate the impact of different forms of bodily interactions with an environment, that is, the movement context (physical vs. joystick movement), we replicated a previous study on affordance perception in which participants actively moved through differently wide doors in an immersive 3D virtual environment. In the present study, we displayed the same environment on a 2D screen with participants moving through doors of different widths using the keys on a standard keyboard. We compared components of the event-related potential (ERP) from the continuously recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) that were previously reported to be related to affordance perception of architectural transitions (passable and impassable doors). Comparing early sensory and later motor-related ERPs, our study replicated ERPs reflecting early affordance perception but found differences in later motor-related components. These results indicate a shift from automated perception of affordances during early sensorimotor time windows to movement context dependence of affordance perception at later stages, suggesting that affordance perception is a dynamic and flexible process that changes over sensorimotor stages.

Applied human neuroscience: Fostering and designing inclusive environments with the 3E-Cognition perspective

The conventional medical paradigm often focuses on deficits and impairments, failing to capture the rich tapestry of experiences and abilities inherent in neurodiversity conditions. In this article, we introduce the 3E-Cognition perspective, offering a paradigm shift by emphasizing the dynamic interplay between the brain, body, and environment in shaping cognitive processes. The perspective fosters a more inclusive and supportive understanding of neurodiversity, with potential applications across various domains such as education, workplace, and healthcare. We begin by introducing the 3E-Cognition principles: embodied, environmentally scaffolded, and enactive. Then, we explore how the 3E-Cognition perspective can be applied to create inclusive environments and experiences for neurodiverse individuals. We provide examples in the realms of education, workplace, and healthcare. In all of these domains, spaces, methodologies, epistemologies, and roles that cater to diverse needs and strengths can be designed using the 3E principles. Finally, we discuss the challenges and benefits of implementing the 3E-Cognition perspective. We focus on the need for technological advancements and research in complex real-world scenarios; we suggest mobile brain/body imaging is a possible solution. We furthermore highlight the importance of recognizing and valuing the diverse manners of experiencing and interacting with the world, the promotion of diverse well-being, and the facilitation of innovation and creativity. Thus, we conclude that the 3E-Cognition perspective offers a groundbreaking approach to understanding and supporting neurodiversity: by embracing the inherent interconnectedness of the brain, body, and environment, we can create a more inclusive and supportive world.

Comparing episodic memory outcomes from walking augmented reality and stationary virtual reality encoding experiences

Episodic Memory (EM) is the neurocognitive capacity to consciously recollect personally experienced events in specific spatio-temporal contexts. Although the relevance of spatial and temporal information is widely acknowledged in the EM literature, it remains unclear whether and how EM performance and organisation is modulated by self-motion, and by motor- and visually- salient environmental features (EFs) of the encoding environment. This study examines whether and how EM is modulated by locomotion and the EFs encountered in a controlled lifelike learning route within a large-scale building. Twenty-eight healthy participants took part in a museum-tour encoding task implemented in walking Augmented Reality (AR) and stationary Virtual Reality (VR) conditions. EM performance and organisation were assessed immediately and 48-hours after trials using a Remember/Familiar recognition paradigm. Results showed a significant positive modulation effect of locomotion on distinctive EM aspects. Findings highlighted a significant performance enhancement effect of stairway-adjacent locations compared to dead-end and mid-route stimuli-presentation locations. The results of this study may serve as design criteria to facilitate neurocognitive rehabilitative interventions of EM. The underlying technological framework developed for this study represents a novel and ecologically sound method for evaluating EM processes in lifelike situations, allowing researchers a naturalistic perspective into the complex nature of EM.

On natural attunement: Shared rhythms between the brain and the environment

Rhythms exist both in the embodied brain and the built environment. Becoming attuned to the rhythms of the environment, such as repetitive columns, can greatly affect perception. Here, we explore how the built environment affects human cognition and behavior through the concept of natural attunement, often resulting from the coordination of a person's sensory and motor systems with the rhythmic elements of the environment. We argue that the built environment should not be reduced to mere states, representations, and single variables but instead be considered a bundle of highly related continuous signals with which we can resonate. Resonance and entrainment are dynamic processes observed when intrinsic frequencies of the oscillatory brain are influenced by the oscillations of an external signal. This allows visual rhythmic stimulations of the environment to affect the brain and body through neural entrainment, cross-frequency coupling, and phase resetting. We review how real-world architectural settings can affect neural dynamics, cognitive processes, and behavior in people, suggesting the crucial role of everyday rhythms in the brain-body-environment relationship.

Architectural experience influences the processing of others' body expressions

The interplay between space and cognition is a crucial issue in Neuroscience leading to the development of multiple research fields. However, the relationship between architectural space and the movement of the inhabitants and their interactions has been too often neglected, failing to provide a unifying view of architecture's capacity to modulate social cognition broadly. We bridge this gap by requesting participants to judge avatars' emotional expression (high vs. low arousal) at the end of their promenade inside high- or low-arousing architectures. Stimuli were presented in virtual reality to ensure a dynamic, naturalistic experience. High-density electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded to assess the neural responses to the avatar's presentation. Observing highly aroused avatars increased Late Positive Potentials (LPP), in line with previous evidence. Strikingly, 250 ms before the occurrence of the LPP, P200 amplitude increased due to the experience of low-arousing architectures, reflecting an early greater attention during the processing of body expressions. In addition, participants stared longer at the avatar's head and judged the observed posture as more arousing. Source localization highlighted a contribution of the dorsal premotor cortex to both P200 and LPP. In conclusion, the immersive and dynamic architectural experience modulates human social cognition. In addition, the motor system plays a role in processing architecture and body expressions suggesting that the space and social cognition interplay is rooted in overlapping neural substrates. This study demonstrates that the manipulation of mere architectural space is sufficient to influence human social cognition.

Affordances and curvature preference: The case of real objects and spaces

Chuquichambi and colleagues recently questioned the prevailing belief that a universal human visual preference exists for curved shapes and lines. Their comprehensive meta-analysis demonstrated that while curvature preference is widespread, it is not universally constant or invariant. By revisiting their dataset, we made an intriguing discovery: a negative relationship between curvature preference and an object's "affordances." Taking an embodiment perspective into account, we propose an explanation for this phenomenon, suggesting that the diminished curvature preference in objects with abundant affordances can be understood through the lens of embodied cognition.