This study undertakes a comprehensive investigation into the comparison of designs between the acclaimed architect Antoni Gaudí and those produced by an artificial intelligence (AI) system. We evaluated the designs using five main metrics: Authenticity, Attractiveness, Creativity, Harmony, and overall Preference. The findings underline the superiority of Gaudí’s designs in terms of Authenticity and Harmony, testifying to the unique aesthetic appeal of human-created designs. On the other hand, AI-generated designs demonstrate significant potential, exhibiting competitive results in the categories of Attractiveness and Creativity. In some cases, they even surpass Gaudí’s designs in terms of overall Preference. However, it is clear that AI faces challenges in replicating the distinctive aspects of human design styles, pointing to the innate subjectivity inherent to design evaluations. These findings shed light on the role AI could play as a tool in architectural design, offering diverse design solutions and driving innovation. Despite this, the study also emphasizes the difficulties AI faces in capturing the unique facets of human design styles and the intrinsic subjectivity in design evaluations.

This study delved into the realm of facial emotion recognition within virtual reality (VR) environments. Using a novel system with MobileNet V2, a lightweight convolutional neural network, we tested emotion detection on 15 university students. High recognition rates were observed for emotions like “Neutral”, “Happiness”, “Sadness”, and “Surprise”. However, the model struggled with 'Anger' and 'Fear', often confusing them with “neutral”. These discrepancies might be attributed to overlapping facial indicators, limited training samples, and the precision of the devices used. Nonetheless, our research underscores the viability of using facial emotion recognition technology in VR and recommends model improvements, the adoption of advanced devices, and a more holistic approach to foster the future development of VR emotion recognition.

Electroencephalography (EEG) stands as a pioneering tool at the intersection of neuroscience and technology, offering unprecedented insights into human emotions. Through this comprehensive review, we explore the challenges and opportunities associated with EEG-based emotion recognition. While recent literature suggests promising high accuracy rates, these claims necessitate critical scrutiny for their authenticity and applicability. The article highlights the significant challenges in generalizing findings from a multitude of EEG devices and data sources, as well as the difficulties in data collection. Furthermore, the disparity between controlled laboratory settings and genuine emotional experiences presents a paradox within the paradigm of emotion research. We advocate for a balanced approach, emphasizing the importance of critical evaluation, methodological standardization, and acknowledging the dynamism of emotions for a more holistic understanding of the human emotional landscape.

Apple Vision Pro: a new horizon in psychological research and therapy

Lighting ambience in architecture is one of the important factors affecting the emotions of people, and the study of the psychological needs of architectural lighting may provide more rational guidelines for architectural design. There are many previous studies on the emotional impact of lighting in architecture, but most of them use a dimensional model of emotion to analyse emotions, which is difficult for the reader to understand. In this study, we used the dimensional model of emotion to analyse emotions and converted it into easily understood basic emotions through the PAD model. Participants (n = 32) were divided into three groups and subjected to three scenes with different colour combinations. The analysis showed that the arousal and dominance of the participants were significantly affected from white to coloured light. No effect on comfort was observed between white and coloured light. Our study suggests that the use of coloured lighting instead of white lights in a non-clinic windowless waiting room may not improve negative mood.

When profit-driven renewal is difficult to implement, many historic districts in China become “frozen” under protection. In the recent social context of “building cities for the people”, public value-oriented renewal of urban historic areas has become crucial in city transformation. This study investigates strategies for historic district regeneration in China by integrating spatial form, urban governance, and public value. We propose a novel framework to analyze the regeneration of historic districts, using Taiyuan’s Bell Tower Street as a case study. The framework distinguishes between two dimensions: spatial and economic–social. In the spatial dimension, we focus on the transformation of spatial form to regenerate public value, emphasizing the attribute of “publicness” as central to urban regeneration efforts. This involves a tiered approach to excavating and upgrading historic districts at macro, meso, and micro levels. The economic–social dimension explores urban governance to enhance public value through collaboration between government, market, and societal actors. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, including document reviews, interviews, field observations, and statistical data analysis. The analysis highlights that a public value-oriented approach to heritage regeneration can balance historical preservation with contemporary urban needs, offering a sustainable model for other cities.