Comparing live experience with pictures in articulating landscape preference

This study defines the dynamic variables affecting. landscape perception. Twenty-five respondents were taken along a trail in southern Indiana through sixteen representative settings, providing preference ratings for each. They were also asked to articulate their feelings about the sites. The same group repeated the study in a laboratory using slides. The resulting data were analysed to determine to what extent dynamic variables were affecting preference for experiences in the landscape and in the simulated environment. Results clearly illustrate that multi-sensory variables have a profound impact on preference for certain environments not found in standard, laboratory research.