Effect of Size and Placement of Free Space on the Perception of Tidiness of a Desk

Abstract

  This study clarified the relationship between free space on a desk and the perception of tidiness, using an experimental design. Participants were presented with images of desks of different sizes with varying arrangements of free space, and they were asked to arrange the images in an order of increasing tidiness. The results were analyzed using the normalized-rank method. The findings demonstrated a positive relationship between the size of the free space on the desk and the perception of tidiness, indicating that the strength of the perception of tidiness changes depending on the size of the free space. An aspect of human visual information processing, called figure-ground segregation, influences this phenomenon. Additionally, the results implied that free spaces directly in front of the chairs led to a strong perception of tidiness and that stationery and other items placed within easy reach of the dominant hand of the person seated on the chair make people perceive the desk as tidy.