An exploratory approach for using EEG to examine person-environment interaction

This study uses psychophysiological measures, alpha and beta waves, to examine the appropriateness of videos as visual media to represent a human-made lake. Results indicate that alpha brainwaves are associated more with peaks in the on-site condition than with peaks in the video condition, whereas beta waves show the opposite pattern. The findings suggest that people respond differently to a real lake and its video simulation. Moreover, the relationships between the brainwave responses of the participants across time and the environmental features shown in the video are identified. The findings show that four categories of landscape features may be associated with significant bursts of beta rhythms: conjunction/turns of paths, ambiguous water features, disadvantageous landscapes, and obtrusive artifacts. Design implications are discussed based on the results.