oa Neurophysiological Biomarkers Informing Architecture And Design: A Comparative Analysis Of Neural And Behavioral Data For Adhd Populations

Emerging neuroscience research shows that environmental-related activity such as wayfinding, perception, cognition, and their behavioral consequences—anxiety, stress, happiness, and arousal—are both reflected in our brains' neural structures and electro-chemical processes (Amor, Oboyle, Pati, Pham, & Jou, 2014; Amor, Pati & OBoyle, 2013; Pati, Amor, & OBoyle, 2012; Eberhard, 2007; Mallgrave, 2011; Swanson, 2011; Zeisel, 2006). Behavioral evidences indicate that fluorescent lighting, among the indoor environmental variables, plays a critical role in facilitating or hindering daily activities for a neuro-typical population (Rashid & Zimiring, 2008). For a neuro-diverse population (ADHD), this becomes more complex. While there is a growing body of debatable environment behavior literature relative to the impact of fluorescent lighting on cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial outcomes, little is known about the correlation between neural activity and fluorescent lighting. The purpose of this research is to 1) explore and compare behavioral and neural responses of twenty ADHD subjects, when exposed to 3 types of fluorescent lighting color temperature: a) Warm White WW with a 2800 CCT, b) Cool White CW with a 4100 CCT, and c) Daylight DX with 6000 CCT when presented in three different settings—commercial, educational, and healthcare (see figures 1, 2, and 3), and 2) explore the impact of different color temperatures on the activation of the prefrontal and parietal areas, brain regions associated with cognition that experience minimal neural activity for people with ADHD (see figure 4). A purposive sampling strategy was used to generate twenty ADHD subjects. This permitted the selection of subjects including gender, age, ethnicity, brain lateralization, as well as the exclusion of color blindness. The participants underwent 1) an anatomical scan T1 (5 minutes) and 2) an Eco-Planar Imaging (EPI) functional scan (17 minutes), while a random sequence of 72 digitally generated high resolution illustrations from the aforementioned settings were projected by a computer controlled visual presentation system (E-Prime). Concomitantly, the participants were asked to respond to each image by fiber optics Button Response Unit (BRU)rating each image on a seven-point Likert satisfaction scale of 1=very dissatisfied and 7=very satisfied. Behavioral data was analyzed using t-test factor analysis and one-way analysis of variance, while the neural data maps were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8). The comparison of neural and behavioral data indicated that the least satisfying color is the White Warm Color Temperature 2800K. The Cool White 4100K and Full Spectrum 6000K correlated color temperatures generated better levels of satisfaction. Important to note that under the Cool White and Full Spectrum, the activation of the Cerebellum, the Superior Temporal Gyrus, the Middle Frontal Gyrus, and the Angular Gyrus respectively responsible for critical structure of social interaction, analytical tasks, and memory retrieval are very suggestive for the activation of the neural cognitive processes. This study is provides fresh neural benchmark data for designers, architects, planners, decision makers, academicians, and industry professionals to assess, design, and produce built environments using neural evidence-based data.