Erminielda Mainardi Peron

Why do preferences differ between scene types

Groups of subjects judged one example of two different types of outdoor scene on each of the items of the Perceived Restorative Scale, on two preference scales and a familiarity scale. It was argued that the previously demonstrated large variations in preference between different types of scenes were the result of participants using the restorative value of a scene as an implicit frame of reference for the preference judgment. Preference and the Perceived Restorative Scale score correlated .81, whereas familiarity and the Restorative Scale correlated .31, and preference and familiarity correlated .32. This result supports the hypothesis regarding the use of the restorative value of a scene as an implicit frame of reference for preference judgments. It is further argued that variations in the preference and restorative value of scenes may be associated with fractal geometry.

Models of preference for outdoor scenes, Some experimental evidence

Predictions derived from three models of the relations between cognitive processing of and preference responses to outdoor scenes were examined. Twelve scene types were identified, ranging from the inner city to large-scale natural environments found in the Sydney region of Australia, the Padua region of northern Italy, and the Netherlands. In two experiments, participants from the three locations made preference, familiarity, and typicality judgments of all examples of each scene type, with the participants from Sydney and Padua making judgments of the stimuli from both locations while the Dutch participants judged the stimuli froll all three locations. The results of the experiments were most consistent with a preference-for-differences model, with only limited evidence for a preference-for-prototypes model. The largest effect on preference was related to scene type, an effect that is difficult to explain using either of the models of preference. It is argued that this presents a significant problem if it is accepted that preference is considered an important aspect of environmental experience.

Schematic information, attention, and memory for places.

Recall and recognition of various aspects of three places were studied under incidental and intentional conditions. Data showed that subjects passing through a place incidentally remembered structural features such as walls better than variable features such as furniture. On the other hand, subjects passing through a place knowing they will be tested for memory of its remembered the variable elements better than the structural elements. The results are interpreted in terms of intentionally governed coding.

SUBCULTURAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL EFFECTS ON THE EXPERIENCE OF DETACHED HOUSES : AN EXAMINATION OF TWO MODELS OF AFFECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Two experiments are reported using variations in house style as a means of investigating two cognitively based theories of affective experience of the environment and cultural differences in environmental experience. In the first experiment, groups of participants with three differing backgrounds but from the same geographic location (Australia) judged the familiarity, typicality, preference, and interest of six house styles. In the second experiment, two age groups from a different culture and geographic location (Italy) made the same set of judgments about the same experimental stimuli. Systematic similarities and differences were found in the first experiment between the groups as a function of house style. In the second experiment, differences were found between the two age groups of Italian participants. Unexpected similarities were found, however, between both age groups from Italy and the Australian groups. These results are related to the two models of affective experience, and their implications for the models are discussed.

Memory for Natural Settings: Role of Diffuse and Focused Attention:

Recall and recognition of various aspects of a real scene, a university corridor, were studied under three conditions. In the “low-attention” condition the subjects had to traverse the place in order to carry out aims attainable somewhere else; in the “medium-attention” condition instructions directed their attention to the place in a rather vague and unfocused manner; in the “high-attention” condition their attention was explicitly focused on all aspects of the corridor. An interaction of attention level with memory was investigated considering, according to schema theories, the distinction between expected, stable elements and unexpected, variable ones. It was predicted that memory of objects of furniture (variable elements) should be higher with medium than low, while memory of structural elements (stable elements) should be higher with medium than high attention. The results confirmed this hypothesis, suggesting that medium attention is well suited for investigating memory when the experimenters aim is to induce attention to all aspects of the environment.

Effects of familiarity in recalling interiors and external places

Abstract A study is reported in which memory is investigated for different aspects of places. The subjects who took part in the experiment were either familiar or unfamiliar with the places in question, and were asked to report all the features they could remember after having passed through them. Both interiors and external places were considered. The results of the quantitative analysis show effects of both familiarity and kind of environment on the types of elements recalled. Furthermore, a qualitative analysis based on various aspects of the reports has confirmed this trend and shown that the organization of the reports differs markedly between subjects, comparing familiar and unfamiliar places. The results of the research are discussed in the framework of schema theory in memory for places.

Representation of familiar places in children and adults: Verbal reports as a method of studying environmental knowledge

Abstract This research investigated childrens representations of familiar places by means of verbal reporting. Eight-year-old childrens representation of the entrance hall and the courtyard of their school was examined under three conditions: free recall; description from memory, intended for a person not acquainted with the place; and direct description, given while looking at the place. Childrens descriptions from memory were then compared with those given by a group of teachers in the school. Both contents and organization of verbal reportings were analyzed. Quantitative results showed a difference in recall between places only in children; furthermore, both children and adults mainly remembered the aspects of places which are constant constraints to actions. The importance of considering some qualitative-linguistic indexes was assessed by results showing, for instance, differences in childrens discourse organization across conditions, the relevance of cognitive more than physical boundaries of places, and age differences in localizing items.

Spatial Information Tested in Naturalistic Situations: Describing Routes

Descriptions of an urban route were requested from 54 subjects who represented three levels of familiarity with the route. Both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the verbal reports showed that previous familiarity is not always a good predictor of a better knowledge of the place and that the concept of familiarity for environments is more articulated than generally thought.