Spatial Crowding Research Articles

Perceived duration of visual stimuli contracts due to crowding.

Recent research on duration perception suggests that duration encoding is not a single general process but involves several separate processes, some of which are specific to visual modality. Moreover, different functional aspects of visual processing can influence duration perception in distinct ways. One of the most important functions of the visual system is to identify and recognize features, shapes, and objects. However, it is still unclear whether and how computations related to these processes affect duration perception. To clarify this issue, we used a spatial crowding phenomenon, which allows the dissociation of low-level feature extraction from high-level processes such as object recognition. We created letter and vernier stimuli matched for their low-level properties but different in their discriminability due to spatial crowding. Here, we show that stimuli that became more difficult to discriminate appeared shorter in duration (data collected in 2019-2023). This difference in perceived duration could not be explained by low-level stimulus properties, cognitive bias due to discriminability, or perceived stimulus onsets or offsets. These results suggest the existence of time-sensitive structures specific to visual processing of features, shapes, and objects that is affected by crowding. These findings support the notion of distributed timing mechanisms in the visual system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adaptable Self-Assembly of a PEG Dendrimer-Coiled Coil Conjugate.

Self-assembly of designed molecules has enabled the construction of a variety of functional nanostructures. Specifically, adaptable self-assembly has demonstrated several advantageous features for smart materials. Here, we demonstrate that an α-helical coiled coil conjugated with a dendrimer can adapt to spatial restriction due to the strong steric repulsion between dendrimer chains. The adaptable transformation of a tetrameric coiled coil to a trimeric coiled coil can be confirmed using analytical ultracentrifugation upon conjugation of the dendrimer to the coiled coil-forming building block. Interestingly, circular dichroism spectroscopy analysis of the dendrimer conjugate revealed an unconventional trend: the multimerization of the coiled coil is inversely dependent on concentration. This result implies that the spatial crowding between the bulky dendritic chains is significantly stronger than that between linear chains, thereby affecting the overall assembly process. We further illustrated the application potential by decorating the surface of gold nanorods (AuNRs) with the adaptable coiled coil. The dendrimer-coiled coil peptide conjugate can be utilized to fabricate organic-inorganic nanohybrids with enhanced colloidal and thermal stabilities. This study demonstrates that the coiled coil can engage in the adaptable mode of self-assembly with the potential to form dynamic peptide-based materials.

Understanding crowding perceptions and their impact on place experience: Insights from a mixed‐methods study

AbstractThe existing research on the impact of crowding on visitors' experiences has yielded mixed results, mainly due to inadequate conceptualization and measurement of the phenomenon. To address this issue, we adopted a mixed‐methods approach. We first conducted a qualitative study (Study 1, focus group based) to understand (i) how consumers perceive crowding at leisure places, (ii) the sources of crowding (spatial or social), and (iii) its effects on their experiences and future behaviors. For Study 2 we collected quantitative data through a survey (n = 537 respondents) to estimate the association between objective and subjective measures of crowding, the relative contribution of human and spatial crowding to visitors' overall crowding perceptions and its impact on satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The results indicated there is a weak association between objective and perceived human crowding, which makes subjective measures more appropriate for assessing crowdedness. A formative two‐dimensional (human and spatial) conceptualization of crowding more adequately captures visitors' perceptions. The influence of each dimension is context‐dependent, such that human crowding is more problematic for visitors to monuments, while cruise ship tourists are less tolerant of spatial crowding. The findings also revealed that crowding negatively affects visitors' satisfaction, while its impact on behavioral intentions is mostly nonsignificant for cruise ship tourists.

Feasibility Study of Applying Spatial Crowd Smoothing Without Economic Incentives on Ticket Reservation System that Applies Nudges

Feasibility Study of Applying Spatial Crowd Smoothing Without Economic Incentives on Ticket Reservation System that Applies Nudges

Comparing crowding perception and sensor counts at the Ghent festivities

Little is known about crowding perception on events and the link with objective visitor counts and visitor’s behavior. This research aims to fill this gap by collecting WiFi sensor counts and comparing them with perception ratings of visitors and police and first aid data of Europe’s largest outdoor urban festival: the Ghent festivities. During 48 h visitors were asked to rate the human crowding, spatial crowding and pleasure on two event plazas and one passageway within the festivities zone. The results show that spatial crowding ratings are a better indicator for visitor counts than human crowding ratings. On two locations a pleasure drop occurred each night, which cannot be linked to the visitor counts, but it can be linked to people’s ratings of crowding as follows: pleasure dropped when the human crowding ratings exceeded 3 and if the spatial crowding ratings increased above 3 on a five-point rating scale during the pleasure drop. In a last step, two datasets on visitor behavior were included in the analysis, i.e., number of police interventions and first aid visits. The analysis of these datasets shows that behavior, crowding and emotional response are linked at the Ghent festivities (e.g., at Vlasmarkt most police interventions and almost exactly 50% of the first aid happened during the pleasure drop), but we cannot say anything about the causality. This research demonstrates both the need for and potential of sensing what lives within a crowd in addition to the use of visitor counting sensors.

The temporal dynamics of visual crowding in letter recognition: Modulating crowding with alternating flicker presentations.

Visual crowding reduces the visibility of a peripherally presented group of stimuli. This is especially challenging for peripheral reading because adjacent letters or characters perceptually crowd one another. We investigated the temporal course of spatial visual crowding by sequentially alternating the visibility of the target and flanking letters within a trigram letter stimulus presented 9° below fixation. We found that alternation rates of roughly 3Hz released half of the total effect of crowding, whereas 10Hz alternation rates elicited near-crowded performance. Furthermore, we found a robust performance asymmetry whereby presenting the target first elicited better performance than presenting the flankers first, an effect resembling forward masking. These results held for conditions of high, medium, and low spatial crowding. Future work will determine whether the alternation rates found in the current study can improve peripheral reading.

Visitor crowding at World Heritage Sites based on tourist spatial-temporal distribution: a case study of the Master-of-Nets Garden, China

ABSTRACT Visitor crowding issues caused by over-tourism at World Heritage Sites (WHS) are increasingly prominent. However, related studies and management give less consideration to the uneven tourist spatial-temporal distribution within micro-attractions, ignoring the detrimental impacts of local crowding on WHS’ sustainable development. Aimed at exploring local crowding within heritage attractions from a perspective of time-space, this study used video-based computer vision technology to analyze tourist spatial-temporal distribution, density, and carrying capacity at stationary points (spatial locations where visitors stay and gather), taking a case study of the Master-of-Nets Garden, a World Cultural Heritage Site. The results indicated that although the total visitor number was below the attraction’s carrying capacity, visitors repeatedly and quickly crowded at stationary points and formed high-density clusters, exceeding stationary points’ space capacity and causing spatial local crowding. When visitors’ dwell time was 5, 12, and 20 seconds, the crowding index K of stationary points was 3.4∼108.5, 1.7∼42.9, and 0.5∼33, indicating the spatial local crowding effect was negatively correlated with the length of visitors’ dwell time at stationary points. Our contribution provides an accurate understanding of local crowding in WHS by highlighting the impact of tourist spatial-temporal distribution on carrying capacity and spatial crowding and suggests visitor management recommendations.

Antibody binding reports spatial heterogeneities in cell membrane organization

The spatial organization of cell membrane glycoproteins and glycolipids is critical for mediating the binding of ligands, receptors, and macromolecules on the plasma membrane. However, we currently do not have the methods to quantify the spatial heterogeneities of macromolecular crowding on live cell surfaces. In this work, we combine experiment and simulation to report crowding heterogeneities on reconstituted membranes and live cell membranes with nanometer spatial resolution. By quantifying the effective binding affinity of IgG monoclonal antibodies to engineered antigen sensors, we discover sharp gradients in crowding within a few nanometers of the crowded membrane surface. Our measurements on human cancer cells support the hypothesis that raft-like membrane domains exclude bulky membrane proteins and glycoproteins. Our facile and high-throughput method to quantify spatial crowding heterogeneities on live cell membranes may facilitate monoclonal antibody design and provide a mechanistic understanding of plasma membrane biophysical organization.

Leisure or work? Shopping behavior in neighborhood stores in a pandemic context

Purpose This study aims to understand customer’s assessments of neighborhood stores during the COVID-19 pandemic through the influence of in-store environmental factors on patronage intention. Design/methodology/approach Online survey with 528 participants about the last shopping trip in neighborhood retail. The authors performed data analysis using structural equation modeling techniques. Findings High-perceived spatial crowding negatively influences shopping experience value perceptions, while human crowding influences patronage intentions through increased perceived hedonic value. Research limitations/implications Results suggest that purchase experience at well-known neighborhood stores during a sanitary crisis is becoming less convenience-oriented and a substitute for leisure activities due to social distancing. Practical implications The findings elucidate the social function of neighborhood convenience retailing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results emphasize that a pleasant shopping experience arising from a good relationship with shopkeepers and other customers is more influential on patronage intention than a good product assortment and store layout. Social implications This paper contributes to the survival of small neighborhood businesses during the financial crisis installed due to Covid-19 by helping businesses become more attractive to their consumers and competitive in the new context. Originality/value The combined context of the health crisis due to COVID-19 and neighborhood retail of an emerging country raises the need for tests to better understand established marketing theories. Based on this rationale, this work intends to replicate and extend selected previous findings to the new environment dictated by the pandemic.

The spillover effect of green finance development on rural revitalization: an empirical analysis based on China's provincial panel data.

With the overall victory of poverty alleviation in China, the focus of rural work has been transformed into rural revitalization. Therefore, based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China spanning 2011 to 2019, this research used the entropy-TOPSIS method to calculate the weights of each index of the two rural revitalization and green finance systems. This research also constructs the spatial Dubin model to empirically analyze the direct effects and spatial spillover effects of green finance development on the level of rural revitalization. Additionally, this research calculates the weight of each indicator of rural revitalization and green finance using entropy-weighted TOPSIS. This research reveals that the current state of green finance is not conducive to increasing local rural revitalization and does not significantly affect all provinces. Further, the number of human resources can improve the local level of rural revitalization, not the entire province. These dynamics benefit the growth of local rural revitalization in the surrounding areas if employment and technology levels are developed domestically. Moreover, this research reveals that education level and air quality have a spatial crowding effect on rural revitalization. Thus, when developing rural revitalization and development policies, it is vital to prioritize the high-quality development of finance to be closely monitored by local governments at the respective levels. Furthermore, the stakeholders must pay critical attention to the connection between supply and demand and between financial institutions and agricultural enterprises in the provinces. Again, the policymakers must also increase policy preference, deepen regional economic cooperation, and improve the supply of essential rural elements to play a more significant role in green finance and support rural revitalization.

Microsaccadic correlates of covert attention and crowding

Spatial crowding occurs when an object is cluttered among other objects in space and is a ubiquitous factor affecting object recognition in the peripheral visual field. Crowding is typically tested by presenting crowded stimuli at an eccentric location while having observers fixate at a point in space. However, even during fixation, our eyes are not perfectly steady but instead make small-scale eye movements (microsaccades) that have recently been suggested to be affected by shifts in attentional allocation. In the current study, we monitored microsaccadic behavior (a possible attentional correlate) to understand naturally occurring shifts in attention that occur following the presentation of a crowded stimulus. A tracking scanning laser ophthalmoscope (TSLO) was used to image the right eye of each observer during a psychophysical task. The stimuli consisted of Sloan numbers (0–9) presented briefly, either unflanked or surrounded by Sloan numbers at one of four nominal spacings. The extent of crowding was found to decrease by 26% on trials with the presence of incongruent microsaccades (proposed to suggest attentional capture). These findings complement the existing body of literature on the beneficial impact of explicit shifts of spatial attention to the location of a crowded stimulus.

Inequity in Environmental Pollution of China’s Livestock and Poultry Industry: A Frontier Applications of Spatial Models

The study’s main aim is to find out the environmental livestock and poultry pollution. The study used data from 31 provinces in China from 2007 to 2019. This paper used two steps for empirical findings. In the 1st step, it conducted an initial analysis of the farmland pollution burden and water pollution that arises from the livestock and poultry industry. After this, through the fair distribution index researcher, the study analyzed the inequity of the environmental pollution burden on the livestock and poultry industry. Finally, by constructing a frontier spatial matrix and spatial econometric model, the study has analyzed the impact of economic development on the inequity of the environmental pollution burden. The econometrical analysis has provided the following conclusions: (1) China’s arable land is facing a serious pollution burden due to livestock and poultry manure. The results show that the livestock and poultry manure burden value is greater than 1. This value explained the serious environmental threat in 13 areas of China. Water pollution showed a fluctuating trend in four areas of China, while the threat of farmland pollution showed a downward trend. (2) The environmental equity index of the livestock and poultry industry in many regions of China is less than 1. This means one region is producing more pollution than its capacity. So, the pollution has crowded out the environmental capacity of other regions, resulting in an unfair environmental burden. This unfair environmental burden is especially prominent in the western region of China. (3) The phenomenon of environmental pollution-burden inequality has a spatial correlation. The environmental pollution burden inequality of a region has a significant spatial crowding out effect on the surrounding areas at the level of 1%, and the coefficient of spatial effect is −0.909. (4) The per capita GDP of the surrounding areas has a significant “inverted U-shaped” indirect impact on the environmental distribution equity index of the region, with an inflection point of 33,500 yuan/person. The research points out that clear property rights, guidance to regulate emissions trading, control blind pollution transfer, moderate industrial structure adjustment, improving rural residents’ education level, etc., are beneficial to the improvement of the environmental livestock and poultry pollution.

Do online reviews help? The contingent effect of perceived crowdedness and gender for restaurant selection

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of perceived usefulness of online reviews and crowd cues on restaurant selection. In addition, the authors also examine the moderating role of perceived crowding and gender in this process.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed hypotheses were tested with survey data (N = 200) collected from customers visiting full-service restaurants in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using SEM through Smart PLS.FindingsThe findings supported that the perceived usefulness of online reviews and perceived crowding have a positive effect on a consumer's purchase intentions, i.e. their decision of restaurant selection. Besides, a higher level of perceived crowding strengthens the relationship between the perceived usefulness of online reviews and their purchase intentions. This finding delineates that consumers prefer to dine in a crowded place with useful online reviews in an unfamiliar place. Finally, the results show that the effect of the usefulness of online reviews on purchase intentions does not vary with respect to gender (no significant contingent effect). However, the effect of perceived crowding varies with respect to gender – male customers have higher intentions to join crowded restaurants as compared to females.Research limitations/implicationsLimitation of this study is its cross-sectional research design; data were collected in a single time frame. Longitudinal research design can be used to get in-depth knowledge of this phenomenon. Secondly, a non-probability sampling technique was used in this study, future research can used probability sampling technique to enhance generalizability of the study. Moreover, this study focused on the human crowding aspect, future studies can cover both aspects of crowding (human crowding and spatial crowding) in retailing or other service sectors (Blut and Iyer, 2020).Practical implicationsThis study has multiple practical implications.Originality/valueThis study extends the current research on usefulness of online reviews and perceived crowding by investigating its direct and conditional effects. Specifically, the authors contribute in extant research by explaining its differential effects for male and female customers, when they select which restaurants to dine.

A Conceptual Framework for Perceived Crowding in the Service Sector from the Lens of Psychological Reactance Theory

This study explores how perceived crowding affects customers in the service sector. A Semi-structured interview guideline was developed to assemble data from forty customers of banks and telecom franchises. Analysis of the research was carried out by using qualitative research software Atlas. The findings suggest that perceived crowding, including social and spatial crowding, impacts customers behaviour emotionally and psychologically. They demonstrate altered behaviour when present in a crowded environment. Further, it was also found that certain elements helped customers tolerate the effects of spatial and social crowding; either types of customers, environment/infrastructure, or Frontline Service Employees behaviour during service attainment. Additionally, following the assumptions of the theory of psychological reactance, this study proposed a research model for future empirical studies. Findings also suggest that top management must consider the impact that perceived crowding produces on customers. Limitations and future research directions and theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

The Relationship between Crowding and Perceived Health Risk in the COVID-19 Era

The current COVID-19 pandemic, and the related social distancing policies adopted in many countries, are deeply affecting consumers’ perceptions towards crowding. This study tries to understand in particular if the perceived human and spatial crowding might increase consumers’ health risk, with an impact on intentions to buy, and if corporate reputation can reduce such impact. As tourism and hospitality is one the sectors most susceptible to the current COVID-19 health crisis, we focus our empirical study on the cruise industry. The empirical study was conducted on a sample of cruise passengers using a structured questionnaire submitted online. Overall, 447 individuals’ responses were used for understanding such relationships by performing a regression model. The results indicate that both human and spatial crowding seem to influence people’s perceived health risk, while corporate reputation does not seem to reduce such deterring impact. The study presents several managerial implications for different service industries, as in the cruise package the customer can find many different services, from restaurant to shopping. The results, in fact, may be useful for better understanding how to cope with COVID-19.

Perceived crowding and festival experience: The moderating effect of visitor-to-visitor interaction

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of two types of perceived crowding (spatial crowding and human crowding) on festival experience as well as how the interactions among visitors moderate the relationship by introducing the variable ‘visitor-to-visitor interaction’. To this end, taking Chinese local cultural festivals as the research object, empirical tests with regression analysis are conducted on 555 questionnaires concerning people's festival experience and perception of spatial crowding and human crowding. The results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived human crowding and festival experience, whereas perceived spatial crowding consistently negatively affects the festival experience. Furthermore, the moderating effect of interactions among visitors is confirmed: the quality of interaction has different moderating effects on the relationship between different types of crowding perception and festival experience, and the quantity of interaction positively moderates the relationship between perceived spatial crowding and festival experience.

“Brasil, decime qué se siente”: a study of agglomeration in a stadium in the World Cup

This study investigates visitor reactions to the human and spatial agglomeration of World Cup stadiums, relating the variable of crowding perception to emotions and consumer’s satisfaction. The largest world event based on a single sport, the Cup moves millions of tourists during the period of its accomplishment. Constantly explored in previous research, the perception of crowding presents a gap in the tangent to relationships established in entertainment environments. The quantitative research, based on the Machleit, Kellaris and Eroglu (1994) scale, presented 270 cases analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling method. The results indicate that the crowding of people in football stadiums during the World Cup triggers positive emotions in the consumer, contrary to most previous studies conducted in other types of environments. The perception of spatial crowding, in turn, maintained the negative character mostly attested by the literature, relating negatively to positive emotions. There was evidence that perception of human crowding influences more intensely on satisfaction than the perception of space crowding.

전시회 서비스스케이프와 혼잡지각이 만족도에 미치는 영향 - 2019 내나라여행박람회 참관객을 대상으로

The purpose of this study was to discuss ways to improve the satisfaction of visitors to exhibitions, which are high value events for the industry. To understand the characteristics of exhibitions, an empirical analysis was conducted on the visitors of the ‘Korea Travel Expo 2019’ by using variables such as servicescape, perceived crowding, and satisfaction. A total of 1,141 valid samples were obtained through an on-site survey. As a result of the analysis, convenience, comfort, attractiveness, and human service were found as factors constituting the servicescape of the exhibition, and the perceived crowding was found to support the preceding research with human crowding and spatial crowding. In addition, the partially significant influence relationship between servicescape, perceived crowding and satisfaction was investigated, and the partial mediating effect of perceived crowding was verified using a 3-step regression equation. Lastly, this study attempted to contribute to the development of related studies by suggesting future research directions while considering the study’s limitations.

Temporal crowding is a unique phenomenon reflecting impaired target encoding over large temporal intervals.

Crowding refers to impaired object identification when presented with other objects, and it is well established that spatial crowding-crowding from adjacent objects-affects many aspects of visual perception and cognition. A similar interference also occurs across time-the identification of a target object is impaired when distracting objects precede and succeed it. When such interference is observed with relatively long interitem intervals it is termed temporal crowding. Thus far, little was known about temporal crowding and its underlying processes. Particularly it was unknown which aspects of visual processing are impaired by temporal crowding, and the answer to this question bears critical theoretical implications. To reveal the nature of this impairment we used a continuous-report task and a mixture-model analysis. In three experiments, observers viewed sequences of three oriented items separated by relatively long intervals (170-475ms). The target was the second item in the sequence, and the task was to reproduce its orientation. The findings suggest that temporal crowding impairs target encoding and increases substitution errors, but there was no evidence of a reduced signal-to-noise ratio. This pattern of results was similar regardless of stimuli duration and target-distractor similarity. However, it differed considerably from the pattern found for ordinary masking and spatial crowding, indicating that temporal crowding is a unique phenomenon. Moreover, the finding that temporal crowding affected the precision of target encoding even when the items were separated by almost half a second suggests that visual processing requires a surprisingly long time to complete.

Body Site and Body Orientation Preferences during Social Grooming: A Comparison between Wild and Captive Chimpanzees and Bonobos

Grooming site preferences have been relatively well studied in monkey species in order to investigate the function of social grooming. They are not only influenced by the amount of ectoparasites, but also by different social variables such as the dominance rank between individuals or their levels of affiliation. However, studies on this topic mainly come from monkey species, with almost no report on great apes. This study aimed to explore whether body site and body orientation preferences during social grooming show species-specific differences (bonobos vs. chimpanzees) and environment-specific differences (captivity vs. wild). Results showed that bonobos groomed the head, the front and faced each other more often than chimpanzees, while chimpanzees groomed the back, anogenitals and more frequently in face-to-back positions. Moreover, captive individuals were found to groom facing one another more often than wild ones, whereas wild individuals groomed the back and in face-to-back positions more. While future studies should expand their scope to include more populations per condition, our preliminary 2 by 2 comparison study highlights the influence of (i) species-specific social differences such as social tolerance, social attention and facial communication, and (ii) socioenvironmental constraints such as risk of predation, spatial crowding and levels of hygiene, that might be the two important factors determining the grooming patterns in two Panspecies.