Amirmahmoud Houshmand Chatroudi

Mental Barrier Free Project
Project Researcher

When mentally exhausted, distressed, or just needing a 'break', we often recourse to nature. But what makes nature so salubrious and restorative? Despite great theoretical and experimental advances over the past century, the answer to this question has still remained elusive. A recent line of neuroscience research has found evidence that low-level visual and auditory statistical properties found in natural stimuli plays a significant role. In my research activities, as a part of the Mental Barrier Free Project, I seek to assess how low-level sensory properties of nature relate to mental health and how these features can be integrated into interior designs and architectural principles. In doing so, we take advantage of virtual reality (VR), electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and biosignal recording (e.g., Electrocardiography) along with novel AI-based analysis techniques.