The impact of minimalist versus maximalist interior space on human short-term memory

Abstract

Minimalism is a widespread movement applied to every aspect of our lives, including our surrounding physical environment. Nevertheless, few experimental studies have been conducted on minimalist design, especially environmental psychology and its effects on psychology and the brain. Also, maximalism is considered as a new trend that has few experimental studies on. On the other hand, human spatial memory, a significant brain function used in everyday life, is affected by the environment that human experience. For this reason, this study explores the impact of the minimalist and maximalist interior spaces on the human's spatial short-term memory. It is examined by the comparison between three virtual living rooms; one of them is minimalist interior space (MNS) which represents a modern designed room with the least number of objects or stimuli, the second is grey-maximalist interior space (GXS) which represents the modern designed room with lots of objects and details but grey scale colors, and the third is colored-maximalist interior space (CXS) which is the same room like GXS but with color. Twenty participants aged 18-35 years have been asked to watch two videos while using the eye tracker device. Ten of them have watched the MNS video and the GXS video, and the others were asked to watch the MNS and CXS video while the video sequence was randomized. Then, they filled a questionnaire about memorizing the interior spaces and the objects there. It is found that the watching order is not significantly effective on the results so that they would not be biased. Also, the eye tracker's results showed that the MNS demands less fixation rate to be memorized with better efficiency than GXS, while the CXS demands the least degree of fixation. The behavioral results showed that the MNS caused the highest retrieving performance level, in contrary to the CXS which caused the least level. While, the GXS had lower retrieving performance level than MNS and higher than CXS levels. However, the MNS generally had the best behavioral results, but the differences mostly were not significant. Also, the color factor made the memorizing process less effort-demanding according to the eye-tracker results than in MNS. In addition, the significant gender differences were detected only in the remembered sketched objects of MNS while females scored higher performance than males. However, it is recommended to enlarge the studies on the MNS to have more vital evidence by using other methods with more participants. Also, it is recommended to explore the effect of color in the MNS on memory performance.