People’s Psycho-physiological Responses to Plantscape Colors Stimuli: A Pilot Study

Interior planting has become increasingly popular in the working environment during the last 30 years. To better understand how plant variegation may affect human health. The study addresses question of whether different kind of plant variegation have particular effects on psycho-physiological parameters, such as wellbeing, and the potential role of colors variegation in these effects. The present study was designed to determine the subjective preference to three color variations of plants in male and female subjects. The data of eye-tracking information and cerebral blood flow recordings within the right hemisphere of the brain were compared to attempt to correlate the influence of plant variegation on the function of different brain regions. Additionally, each participant was asked to clarify whether or not he preferred the particular plant. The results showed that different plantscape variations stimulate different psycho-physiological reactions. In addition, with regard to the plant color, the green-red plant was less appealing, while, the green plant was more favorable to both male and female subjects, where it was most effective for promoting positive responses such as, wellbeing, pleasure and relaxation evidenced by the sedation of cerebral blood flow at the right prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, cerebral blood flow increment was correlated with the degree of the participants’ attention to the visual stimuli based on the eye-tracking information. On the other hand, during visual stimulation with the favorite color, it is apparent from the results that cerebral blood flow was activated at the occipital lobe especially the visual area. On the contrary, during stimulation with the unfavorite color, the cerebral blood flow was sedated at the judgment and somatosensory areas. The findings indicate that the differential brain activation patterns associated with color preference are assumed to reflect the human emotional status.