| The following 3 research units will work together
to solve problems relating to the artificial environment. We are going to
organize a directorate with one person from each unit, plus 3 related researchers
from outside the Institute. So the directorate will consist of 6 members.
We will discuss the direction of research and try to evaluate the research.
We will have an annual joint-planning committee meeting. Occasionally there
will be informal meetings where necessary. At the end of each financial
year we will invite researchers from companies with an interest in the creation
of artificial environments. At the same time we will ask these company representatives
about theirpractical problems. We will develop design technology to improve
the quality of artificial environments and make this technology available
to industry. At the end of the financial year 2004 we will organize a symposiumsium
and present our research results. We will invite distinguished researchers
both from Japan and abroad to evaluate our results. In the last financial
year we will organize the first international congress on the design of
artificial environments. Then we will present and publish the results from
the whole 5-year period. We will propose how to standardize the evaluation
methods for the assessment of the artificial environments. Finally, we are
going to propose standards for artificial design for several different practice
areas for different places in the world, especially in Asia-especially for
environments for people of different ages and also for handicapped people. |
| 1.Environmental physiology
unit |
We are interested in several aspects of artificial
environments; lighting, color, images and sound, smell, temperature and
humidity which (can) influence the human central and autonomic nervous systems,
internal secretions and the immune system. We are interested in clarifying
how these above factors influence physiological responses. We will investigate
the effect of intensity and illumination and color temperature on biological
rhythms and on the perceived comfortableness of rooms. Using physiological
methods we are going to clarify how auditory signals including alarm sounds
are recognized and utilized. We also hope to clarify how signs with colors
and images are detected and thereby make our surroundings safer. We will
investigate physiologically the comfort level of smells and the associated
neural correlates. Heating systems can reduce the humidity of the environment
and we are interested in examining the effectof this on the body. Finally,
we hope to clarify the mechanism of economy class syndrome.
We are going to propose suitable conditions of artificial environments for
young children, senior citizens and the handicapped. We will perform some
physiological studies on such people concerning the influence of illumination
intensity and color temperature. We will study how people detect signals,
including alarms (sounds, colors and images). We are going to investigate
the mechanism of image-induced malady. We will conduct research on immune
systems, smell, and the physiological effects of "dry" environments
i.e. environments where humidity is low. |
| 2.Perceptual psychology
unit |
We are going to clarify what kinds of problems
urban environments give to the human perceptual system and how the perceptual
system solves those problems. We will clarify how the perceptual system
avoids unsuitable interpretations of the environment and picks up the necessary
information in an artificial environment which is filled with noise or with
superfluous information. We will examine whether signs, alarms and signals
correspond to the contents that people need to take in. We will clarify
regularities that are specific to artificial environments and which affect
our perception. In any artificial environment we need both efficiency and
safety and we willinvestigate how we should make use of audition, vision,
olfactory sensation and somatic
sensation for these purposes and how to relate or connect these sensory
modalities. We will clarify how we obtain 3-dimensional information in artificial
environments.
We will conduct some basic research on adaptation to artificial environments
by elderly, hearing-impaired, and visually-impaired people. We will investigate
the best way to give necessary information, such as traffic signals, to
elderly people or visually-impaired people – including people with impaired
color vision and we will propose new design methods for this purpose. We
will clarify how to connect hearing-aid systems and sound environments for
elderly people.
We are going to examine practical problems that designers, in their field,
may have. We are going to build a complex environment experimental system
where we can change several environmental factors, such as lighting, color,
images, sounds, vibrations temperature and humidity. This system will enable
us to evaluate complex environments both physiologically and psychologically
– which has hitherto been difficult. The environmental psychology unit and
perceptual psychology unit are cooperating together and will try to change
several factors systematically and conduct experiments to establish a method
for evaluating the interplay of complex factors in an actual artificial
environment. |
| 3.Design unit |
| After receiving the results from the other
two units we will try reevaluate lighting, moving images, sounds, air-temperature
control and architecture from the physiological and psychological viewpoints.
We will perform artificial environmental design based on human sensations
utilizing state of the art technology - in particular we will "take
care of" small children, the elderly and the handicapped who sometimes
have difficulty adapting to the environment. We would like to propose how
to design sounds or signs (colors or images) for alarm systems that are
not difficult to detect or recognize for these people. Also, we would like
to propose how to control lighting, temperature and humidity in facilities
for elderly people, and how to ensure that moving images do not induce physiological
problems for children. |
