Effects of reflecting water on viewers’ visual attention, spatial perception, and emotional responses: a case study in Chinese heritage garden

Water is considered one of the most important elements in landscape design. Studies claim that water expands perceived spatial dimension. In classic Chinese gardens, water is usually used to expand limited garden spaces. However, this information is mostly experience-based. Therefore, this exploratory study compared the differences in characteristics of the observer’s visual and cognitive processing using a typical classic Chinese garden scenery picture with and without water through experiment (repeated measures design). A total of 64 participants were asked to randomly view two pictures respectively. The results showed that water reflection attracts more visual attention than pavement. Moreover, reflections can reduce the proportion of visual attention of a reflected substance and lower its visual attractiveness. The estimation of the actual area size showed that water was not effective for people’s spatial perception. However, participants felt a greater sense of spaciousness when viewing scenes that included water. These results suggest that reflecting on the water enhanced people’s appreciation of the scene.