| Abstract: | When people are confronted with rapid social and environmental changes, they may experience multiple stressors that cause emotional disequilibrium, depression, and persistent negative mood. Such stressors are detrimental to individual health and affect people’s behavior, leading to an increase in traumatic social events. The World Health Organization reported that episodes of chronic depression may accumulate to form major depressive disorder. The work productivity, interpersonal exchange, learning performance, and peer interaction of patients with major depressive disorder are extremely vulnerable. The Taiwan Association Against Depression and the Taiwan Department of Health reported that one out of every 10 Taiwanese citizens has depression. A journal study published by the Academia Sinica Institute of Biomedical Sciences indicated that the portion of the Taiwan population suffering from depression or anxiety has increased to 25%, demonstrating an increasing prevalence. Thus, assisting patients with depression in finding methods for venting and relieving their emotions is crucial.
The present study used 3D techniques to construct objects and spaces that incorporated an interactive design with human sensory systems to assist people in alleviating and identifying their emotions. An integrated design of digital images (vision), audio (hearing), physical interaction (touch), and olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) perceptions was employed to create an active and vigorous ambience capable of relaxing stress, enhancing positive emotional energy, augmenting joyful experiences and memories, alleviating depressive symptoms, satisfying individual perceptions, and arousing perceptual instincts forgotten or lacking. Through rational thinking, problems can be solved to achieve beautiful perceptual experiences. The experiment comprised a control (audiovisual) group and experimental groups (audiovisual + tactile, audiovisual + gustatory, audiovisual + olfactory, and the five senses). An electroencephalography (EEG) system was used to visualize emotional reactions and obtain fluctuating emotional feedback. Various media designs were attempted in constructing a combination model for observing whether the alleviated emotions and user satisfaction of the two groups differed significantly.
The experimental results showed that a multisensory combination of the five senses was the most effective in relieving people’s emotions. User satisfaction reached a high level, along with favorable feedback responses. The multisensory experience exerted a combined effect on the participants. The audiovisual + olfactory design was more effective in alleviating emotion, second only to five senses design. In addition, the EEG test showed that the audiovisual + tactile design was more effective in alleviating men’s emotions than it was in relieving women’s emotions. The perceived emotional alleviation and user satisfaction induced by the audiovisual + gustatory design improved only slightly compared with those induced by the other design groups. |
