ブース空間における色彩環境と空間の大きさが情報処理活動に与える影響

 In Japan today, the decline in birth rate and aging of society are accelerating due to the effects of the recession. The decline in population is considered a serious issue. As the decline in birth rate and aging of society accelerates, the working age population decreases, and the production capacity of Japan is expected to fall greatly. Therefore, to prevent the reduction in production capacity due to the continuously declining labor force, it is necessary to increase individuals' production capacity.<br><br> The purpose of this study is to study color and space size as environmental elements that make up a space to determine desirable environmental design that support individuals' mental activities.<br> In this study, to obtain more detailed results from the evaluation of impressions, kansei (emotional sensitivity) semantic differential of direct feelings is used. Also, near-infrared spectroscopy as a neuroscience technique is used to investigate the effects of different combinations of color and space size on brain activity. We clarify the physical environmental design that promotes mental activities. We also clarify what colors and space size stimulate individuals' mental activities.<br><br> In the experiment, 50 university students performed a mental activity, such as circulations for 15 minutes while wearing a wearable optical topography device in small white, large white, small yellow and large yellow booths. The study also carried out a questionnaire survey before and after the start of the mental activity in order to understand the subject`s condition and impression.<br><br> In this study, cerebral blood flow during information-processing mental activities, a method of measuring brain activity, was measured with a cerebral blood flow measurement device. An impression evaluation survey was also carried out using kansei semantic differential. Also carried out were surveys on subjects' state of fatigue and state of mood. By combining analysis of information-processing in the brain and subjective evaluation, the following results were obtained.<br> (1) The two types of booths—large and small—used in the experiment, in the area of information-processing bigger booth size tended to improve the correct answer rate of the calculation problem.<br> (2) It is possible that the combination of color and space affects information-processing mental activities.<br> (3) It is possible that space size affects physiological conditions before and after information-processing mental activities.<br> (4) The adjectives common to yellow booths and large booths, may affect improving information-processing mental activities.<br> (5) It is possible that simulation of brain activity has an effect on the correct answer rate and reaction speed.<br><br> In the future, we believe it is necessary to increase the number of patterns for both color and size of space to elucidate the environmental elements that most improve information-processing mental activities, as well as consider the shape of spaces.<br> Going forward, there is the need to study mental activities by increasing the time for tackling calculation problems and study what kinds of environment most improve information-processing mental activities for each work time period.