Virtual Reality References in Design Problem Solving: Towards an Understanding of Affect-Cognition Interaction in Conceptual Design

Empirical studies in cognitive psychology indicate that a typical problem solving activity will involve both affective and cognitive processing. Design problem solving being a creative process is often driven by affective components such as moods, emotions and feelings. This paper demonstrates the dynamics of affective influence on mental imagery processing, a cognitive process involved in producing and modifying visual representations, in the context of conceptual design. This is done by foregrounding the impact of immersive technology such as virtual reality (VR) references through an experimental pilot study. Subjects who received VR references to solve a design problem, demonstrated a markedly different kind of affective engagement as compared to those who received screenshot references. This is reflected in the distinct styles of mental imagery processing and the consequent differences in the produced design solutions, which are presented in the paper as preliminary results