01 / HEADSET FITTING
Leave time for the headset to settle.
The pilot recording shows a large disturbance around headset fitting, followed by settling. This makes preparation and settling time part of the protocol, before comparing the VR exposures.
KIARASH TAHERI / NEUROARCHITECTUREStudying spatial
Studying spatial
experience.
I work on ways to study how people experience architecture, combining research methods, a programmable study workbench, and practical experiments with EEG and VR.
Research assistant to Dr. Bushra AbbasiRESEARCH FOCUS
How to turn a change in an architectural environment into a meaningful, controlled comparison of experience.
MY CONTRIBUTION
Research methods, NeuroArch software development, and investigation of the practical relationship between EEG and VR.
CURRENT STAGE
A workbench in development, a completed technical pilot, and a controlled spatial study being designed.
01 / RESEARCH QUESTION
How can an architectural question become a study?
A change in light, geometry or a view needs a clear comparison. My interest is in connecting what we design to what people encounter, report and do, alongside the signals we record.
01Start with a design questionChoose the spatial change and keep the other conditions comparable.
02Record the encounterKeep the scene version, exposure order, timing and equipment state together.
03Interpret the responses togetherConnect reported experience and behavior with physiology before drawing a design conclusion.
These questions guide the study design. Explore the research framework ↗
02 / NEUROARCH WORKBENCH
Building the tools to carry the question through.
I am developing NeuroArch to connect study design, running a session, reviewing recordings and analysing data. It keeps the study version and the original records connected, so an interpretation can be traced back to the conditions that produced it.
Workbench system design
DESIGN → RUN → REVIEW
A sequence through the implemented software, using development test studies.
NeuroArch connects study authoring, event recording, signal review and analysis. Each result stays linked to the study version and recording it came from.
A reproducible analysis check
In an October 2026 software test, NeuroArch froze six generated observations with their original rows and an analysis recipe. The exported reproduction completed successfully and matched the retained summary. This checks the software’s path from source data to a repeatable result; the values are synthetic.
Development evidence: frozen observation analysis and reproduction, 8 October 2026.
03 / PHYSICAL PILOT · 31 AUG 2026
Can EEG and VR work together on the same head?
Before comparing spaces, we need to understand the equipment. A technical pilot on 31 August 2026 examined how wearing a Meta Quest 2 over an EEG cap affected contact and the recorded signal. It used a Mitsar SmartBCI X64 and one participant.
1participant
64EEG channels
250 Hzsample rate
32:17native record
Where the straps meet the cap.The pilot analysis compared regions near the top and side straps. The drawing shows those electrode groups and the apparatus layout.Inspect the electrode and strap layout ↗
04 / PILOT SEQUENCE
Keep the sequence beside the signal.
The recording moved through eyes-open and eyes-closed baselines, headset wear, two VR scenes and a later movement condition. Keeping that order visible helps explain what each comparison can tell us.
964 snamed condition intervals
884 sselected spectral windows
The conditions were presented once in a fixed order. Physical display onset was not measured, and the final movement block's eye state was unspecified.
05 / WHAT THE PILOT TAUGHT US
From the first recording to a better protocol.
The useful outcome was a set of practical lessons: allow the equipment to settle, check a recognizable physiological response, and separate scene differences from changes in time and participant state.
02 / BASELINE
Check an eyes-open and eyes-closed baseline.
The eyes-closed and eyes-open comparison showed a recognizable posterior alpha response. It provides a useful check on the recorded physiology before looking at more complicated conditions.
03 / COMPARISON
Repeat the comparison in a balanced order.
The Gray and Valley intervals differ, but they also occurred at different times in the session. Order, eye state, movement and headset contact must be controlled before a difference can be attributed to the environment.
SCOPE OF THIS PILOTThese figures describe one participant in one fixed sequence. They guide the next protocol; they do not establish how an architectural feature affects a population.
06 / NEXT STUDY · IN DEVELOPMENT
Return to the architectural question.
The next step is a controlled comparison of a defined spatial change. I want the design of the environment, the participant’s experience and the analysis to remain connected through the whole study.
