title: Can Hospital Form Trigger Fear Response?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether exposure to curve versus sharp contours in the built healthcare setting produces systematic and identifiable patterns of amygdala activation and behavioral response in healthy adults.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Recent studies in cognitive neuroscience suggest that humans prefer objects with a curved contour compared with objects that have pointed features and a sharp-angled contour. An implicit perception of threat represented by sharp objects, in humans, was hypothesized to explain this bias.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study adopted a within-subject experimental design, where 36 subjects (representing three age-groups and both sexes) were exposed to a randomized order of 312 real-life images (objects, interiors, exteriors, landscape, and a set of control images). Amygdala activation was simultaneously captured using functional magnetic resonance imaging technology. Subjects' preference (like/dislike) data were also collected while in the scanner. Data were collected in 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In case of images depicting landscape and healthcare objects, brain scans show significant higher amygdala activation associated with sharp contours. However, in relation to images depicting hospital interiors and exterior envelops, brain scans show significant higher amygdala activation associated with curve contours. These activations pertain to exposure during the precognitive stages of the subjects' perception.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospital forms do have systematic impact on fear response during precognitive stages of human perception. Whether this first impression colors the subsequent experience of an actual patient with real illness or injury is unknown.
authors.affiliation: College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA d.pati@ttu.edu.
authors.forename: Debajyoti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pati
authors.affiliation: College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Boyle
authors.affiliation: College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jiancheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: American Art Resources, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Upali
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nanda
authors.affiliation: College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Hessam
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ghamari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006749:Hospital Design and Construction; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation
keywords: acute care; built form; evidence-based design; fear response; neuro architecture; neuro science