Material properties of wooden surfaces used in interiors and sensory stimulation

ABSTRACT

By covering interiors, such as walls, ceilings and floors, with wooden surfaces, one can change the quality of indoor environments and thereby affect both psychological and physiological responses. Psychological responses refer to individuals’ emotional reactions toward interiors, while physiological responses include changes in the activity of the brain, the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system. The above-mentioned responses considered in this study are those caused by visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile stimulation from interior wooden surfaces. Although earlier studies have presented valuable information on this subject, questions remain about the material properties of wood which are associated with the stimulation. Specifying the material properties can support architects, designers and engineers who intend to use wood in interiors for improving psychological and physiological responses. A literature study therefore has been conducted to determine (i) the material properties of wood which are associated with sensory stimulation, and (ii) to specify relevant recommendations or requirements which should be fulfilled when covering interiors with wooden surfaces. The results show a lack of knowledge regarding the material properties of wood and the degree in which it affects sensory stimulation.

KEYWORDS:

• Wooden surfaces
• indoor environmental quality
• psychological responses
• physiological responses
• material properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Elaheh Jalilzadehazhari is an Architect and researcher in energy efficiency and indoor environment quality.

Jimmy Johansson is an associate professor and researcher in wood science and product development.

ORCID

Elaheh Jalilzadehazhari http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1835-7158

Jimmy Johansson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0130-3356

Notes

1. In this literature study, covering interiors with wooden surfaces refers to the installation of wooden panels on walls, ceiling, and floor.

2. Individuals have mainly a positive attitude towards wood due it’s naturalness. Positive attitudes can intensify individuals’ preferences to use wood in interiors (Nyrud and Bringslimark 2010). However, there are some indications that individuals can indeed separate various properties of wood and have different preferences towards them. For instance, the existence of multiple knots can have a negative impact on people's preferences (Nyrud and Bringslimark 2010). To understand how individuals develop different preferences relies on the exploration of differences in the attitude domain across cultural contexts (Riemer et al. 2014) and life domain factors (Diener 1984), which is out of the scope of this study.

3. The serial position effect describes the possibility of recalling first and last experiments best while having a weak recollection of middle experiments (Mack et al. 2017).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Knowledge Foundation: [Grant Number 20130245].