The Cognitive Experience of Architecture in Real-Life and Virtual Reality

The paper describes the findings from a pilot study designed to understand the relation of emotional and cognitive experiences of architecture in different virtual reality scenarios compared to real-life. Here, we made the following assumptions: Assumption 1: Participants have different emotional and cognitive responses to the architectural space in different setting conditions (i.e., real life, VR in high detail, VR in low detail, VR laser scan). Assumption 2: Participants have different emotional and cognitive responses to the architectural space in different rooms varying for spatial qualities (e.g., lighting, ceiling height, size). By using three different spatial settings (auditorium with natural light, auditorium with electric light, and a narrow staircase) and three qualities of VR (VR in high detail, VR in low detail, VR of a laser scan) and compare it emotionally and cognitively to the real-life experience of the spaces, we sought a better understanding of the full spectrum of experiences within the architectural space. With the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) we could measure second-by-second neural responses to tested stimuli; this enabled us to understand the emotional and cognitive experience second-by second within the different qualities of VR and in the real-life experience. The results showed that the high detail VR model came closer to the real-life experience of the same spaces, both emotionally and cognitively in comparison to a low detail VR model and especially in comparison to a laser scan VR model.