DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qfttdz0qf
title: Image statistics substantiate Gaudí's naturalistic design principles

description: Human observers perceive natural scenes differently from man-made
 environments, and this distinction can be quantified using image
 statistics. However, there is limited evidence on how the architectural
 style of buildings influences these statistics and, consequently, visual
 perception. Understanding this relationship is crucial, as architectural
 design shapes our visual and psychological experience of built
 environments. The amplitude spectrum slope reflects the sharpness and
 detail of the image. This measure tends to be closer to 1 among
 photographs of natural scenes compared to those of man-made objects.
 Additionally, photographs with higher entropy, indicating increased
 unpredictability and information, are more likely to capture attention. In
 the present study, we examined photographs of buildings designed by Antoni
 Gaudí (1852-1926), known for his nature-inspired creations. Our analysis
 reveals that photographs of Gaudí's buildings exhibited an average
 amplitude spectrum slope more aligned with natural scenes than
 contemporary structures, along with higher image entropy, indicating
 greater visual complexity. Notably, the presence of trees in front of
 contemporary buildings enhances their naturalistic qualities, reflected in
 shifts in amplitude spectrum slope and entropy toward values
 characteristic of natural scenes. These findings suggest that integrating
 naturalistic design elements into architecture can modify image
 statistics, potentially influencing perception and aesthetic experience.
description: Please read associated README file
description: # Title of Dataset: "Image Statistics Substantiate Gaudí's
 Naturalistic Design Principles" Authors: Olga Dyakova, Karin
 Nordström, Christian Benedict \[Access this dataset on Dryad](Dataset DOI
 link) ## Description of the data and file structure Below is a list of
 files, including raw images and analysis, associated with the paper. .csv
 - Data is provided in Excel format and can be viewed or edited using
 programs such as LibreOffice Calc, OpenOffice Calc, Microsoft Excel, or
 imported into Google Sheets. .m - MATLAB scripts for image analysis.
 .prism GraphPad Prism files for statistical analysis, viewable and
 editable with GraphPad Prism software. ## Description of the data and file
 structure **Data.csv** This Excel file contains data for future analysis:
 * The column **entropy: Gaudí's buildings** contains entropy values
 for 27 images of Gaudí's buildings. The entropy was extracted using
 MATLAB. * The column **entropy: contemporary buildings** contains entropy
 values for 29 images of contemporary buildings. The entropy was extracted
 using MATLAB. * The column **entropy: natural scenes** contains entropy
 values for 60 images of natural scenes. The entropy was extracted using
 MATLAB. * The column **amplitude spectrum slope: Gaudí's buildings**
 contains amplitude spectrum slope values for 27 images of Gaudí's
 buildings. The entropy was extracted using MATLAB. * The column
 **amplitude spectrum slope: contemporary buildings** contains amplitude
 spectrum slope values for 29 images of contemporary buildings. The entropy
 was extracted using MATLAB. * The column **amplitude spectrum slope:
 natural scenes** contains amplitude spectrum slope values for 61 images of
 natural scenes. The entropy was extracted using MATLAB. The amplitude
 spectrum slope measures the sharpness and level of detail in an image. To
 compute the average amplitude spectrum slope, we first applied a Fourier
 transform to the greyscale images. Next, we calculated the average
 amplitude across all orientations as a function of spatial frequency and
 plotted the results on a log–log scale. A linear function was then fitted
 to the amplitude spectrum (following the form 1/f^α) within the range of
 10 to 100 cycles per image (cpI). The slope of this fit, representing the
 amplitude spectrum slope, was extracted and rounded to two decimal places.
 Image entropy quantifies the randomness or information content within an
 image. We calculated the Shannon entropy using Matlab’s function
 'entropy'. **Statistical_analysis.prism** This GraphPad Prism
 file contains statistical analysis and figures. **image_analysis.m.** This
 MATLAB file contains the function to calculate the amplitude spectrum and
 the amplitude slope constant. This is the same code described in Dyakova
 et al. (2015), *A higher order visual neuron tuned to the spatial
 amplitude spectra of natural scenes*, *Nature Communications*, 6, 8522
 ([https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9522](https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9522)). We only added a line to extract the amplitude spectrum as output.