JAILCD2025-016: Gender Differences in Stress Recovery Effects in Biophilic Multisensory Environments Based on EEG Complexity Analysis

Abstract

Biophilic design substantially contributes to improving individuals' psychological and physiological well-being within indoor environments. Exploring the synergistic effects of visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli on stress recovery can contribute to improving indoor environmental quality. In this study, we measured the Restorative Component Scale (RCS) and electroencephalography (EEG) of 48 young university students. The brain's Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) was calculated based on five different coarse-graining algorithms, and their effectiveness in assessing stress recovery was compared. The results indicated that compared to standard indoor environments, the synergistic effects of biophilic visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli significantly contributed to stress recovery, with RCS increasing by 7.32-13.87 and LZC decreasing by 0.015-0.058. Significant gender differences were observed in the effectiveness of stress recovery across various multisensory environments. The combination of green walls, water sounds, and rose scent (WR) was more effective in promoting recovery for females, while males showed a better response to other biophilic conditions, with LZC reductions being 1.01-2.24 times greater than those observed in females. This study provides a reliable method for personalized stress recovery assessment, offers new insights into the brain's complex activities during stress recovery, and serves as a valuable reference for designing indoor biophilic environments with synergistic visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli.