*Luyao Li (School of Architecture and Design, Harbin Institute of Technology; Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)
As a complex system of human-environment interaction, architectural design, with its elements such as form, material, and light and shadow, can significantly activate brain regions such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, triggering emotional resonance and cognitive memory. Traditional design paradigms center on the designer's experience for decision-making, relying on explicit aspects such as functional zoning, formal aesthetics, and technical norms, while users are merely passive participants as space users. This has caused limitations in the study of the emotional and cognitive value system of the existing built environment, making it difficult to analyze the neural response patterns of implicit dimensions such as place spirit and cultural identity. Against this backdrop, neuro-architecture, as an emerging interdisciplinary field, integrates neuroscience, architecture, and environmental psychology. It uses multi-source data collection and analysis methods such as EEG/fMRI and biosensing to quantitatively interpret the dynamic regulatory mechanisms of the built environment on human neural activities and emotional cognition, aiming to transform design from an experience-driven approach to a scientific system that is "human-space-emotion" coordinated. However, the knowledge system in this field still has a fragmented characteristic, lacking a systematic review of the disciplinary evolution logic and the integration path of technologies.
To overcome the above limitations, this research employs the CiteSpace tool to perform a bibliometric analysis of the literature within the Web of Science Core Collection spanning from 2004 to 2024. The study specifically concentrates on excavating the co - occurrence network of high - frequency keywords, including "spatial cognition", "emotional experience", and "neural plasticity". It aims to analyze the phased characteristics and the migration patterns of research hotspots in the discipline.
Preliminary data indicate that the quantity of publications in this field has significantly increased since 2016. Research themes have gradually evolved from the initial causal verification of "environmental stimuli - brain region activation" to application scenarios such as "multimodal perception integration" and "neural feedback-driven generative design". The dynamic visualization of the knowledge map not only unveils the the extent of disciplinary intersection between neuroscience and architecture but also identifies emerging directions, such as "neural behavior experiments in virtual reality environments" and "neural aesthetic quantification models" through the detection of emergent words, providing a methodological framework for establishing an architectural emotional evaluation index system based on neural cognition. It is anticipated that a transformation from an "experience-driven" to a "neural evidence-driven" model will be accomplished.
Keyword : Neuroarchitecture, Neurourbanism, Spatial Cognition, Human Health and Emotional Wellbeing, Bibliometric