22 REFLEXION | 2021-22 | AIA Utah This paper has been divided into two parts, the first part of which appears below. It describes how growing evidence and research on the multidisciplinary realm of illusions of nature is giving weight to a new field of Cognitive Biophilia and Neuroaesthetics. In the last few years, neuroscientists have come to a remarkable conclusion: the quantity and quality of open space around us — whether it’s rows of cubicles in an open-floor matrix, four walls in a classroom with a view of the next building, or a windowless treatment area — are responsible for increasing the cognitive load on our analytical and affective faculties. In other words, the nature of our thinking, whether it’s reflective, creative, emotional, rational or intuitive, is deeply influenced by our spatial environment. Space, it turns out, impacts higher cognitive functions in ways we’re just beginning to grasp. Even more astonishing, because of the way our brains are wired when we’re relaxed, our sense of “self” incorporates and absorbs our immediate surroundings into an extended sense of self-called the “body schema,” referring to an integrated neural representation of the body. In nature, our sense of self becomes boundless, which is deeply restorative. Unattributed, Pixabay Total Recall: Cognitive Biophilia and the Restorative Impact of Perceived Open Space, Part 1 Our cognitive experience of body becomes one with the place we’re in, which can, in turn, extend our sense of “self” into the environment at large. Because this neurobiology of sensory stimuli and cognitive perception gives rise to our sense of self and environment, such an extension of self is not a virtual simulation. It’s a shifting neural assessment of who we are. This insight also reveals the hitherto hidden dynamics that formulate our experience of self in space, based on contextual or structural cues embedded in the places we inhabit. Neuroscientists refer to this fluid cognitive process as “embodied perception.” We spread out into our immediate surroundings, or recoil from them, by recalling and matching past spatial experiences that occurred under similar conditions. If our spatial memory in such spaces is pleasant, our sensory-motor cerebral regions incorporate these attributes as belonging to our body proper. Architectural scholars such as Sarah Robinson have noted that our body schema is plastic, amenable to constant revision, and extends well beyond the envelope of the skin.1 In fact, researchers concede that the border separating the body schema, peripersonal space (the space immediately surrounding our bodies), and extrapersonal space (the space outside the reach of an individual) is indeed arbitrary. The border between self and place shifts based on sensory cues. Photo by Jonny Crow on Unsplash. When nature is present in our environment, we can, and do, relax and become one with our immediate space. But when the environment is disconnected from nature, we become tense, anxious and feel distinctly disconnected from the world around us. The far-reaching implications for how our brain perceives, interprets and modulates the environment have forced academics and practitioners alike to take a serious look at our BY DAVID A. NAVARRETE AND BILL WITHERSPOON
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