Architectural environments, emotion and portable brain imaging: exploring affective spatial experience with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)

Radical advancements in wearable brain imaging technology have precipitated an abundance of neurological studies globally (Ferrari et al., 2012). Highly sensitive fixed scanning, which limits testing in real environments is now complimented by portable devices measuring brain activity in everyday life (Gage, 2009). Wearable near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging measures cerebral blood oxygenation levels responding to specific physiological and cognitive events. Recently, an emergence of fNIRS studies investigating the neuro-physiological mapping of emotion (Pollmann et al., 2016; Balconi et al., 2015; 2016; Hu et al., 2019) suggest its potential for affective spatial research. This thesis presents two experimental case studies employing fNIRS which seek to understand the neural basis of emotional responses to real interior spaces and digitally presented interior spaces. The findings of the thesis reveal that particular formations of space elicit pleasant and unpleasant responses which are associated with hemodynamic change in the pre-frontal cortex region known for emotion regulation and spatial attendance, and further provides support for the use of fNIRS in spatial research.