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The emotional experience of a visit to a concentration camp memorial is high in intensity and wide in diversity. Clustering of this emotional experience has led to a better understanding of the valence of emotions. It is not known how these emotion clusters affect the meaning derived from the experience and how this affects visit intention. This study addressed this gap in research and explored the potential relations between emotion clusters and meaning in the context of an expected visit to a concentration camp memorial. This study finds that the emotion cluster Sympathy is the only cluster to have a significant and large positive direct effect on Meaning and a significant, but small, positive indirect effect on Visit Intention. The Misery cluster is the only cluster that has a significant but small negative direct effect on Visit Intention. The Positivity cluster has no effects on Meaning and Visit Intention. In the discussion, we address the role of empathy, and theoretical implications are framed in Terror Management Theory. Managerial implications include a discussion on the use of promotion to trigger empathy.

The Refined Core and Balance Model of Family Leisure Functioning was used to guide our study of the link between vacation experiences of romantic couples and satisfaction with their relationship life. Results revealed that romantic couples who had more shared or joint experiences during their vacations in the previous year reported higher levels of satisfaction with their relationship life at the end of the year. This association was mediated by relationship functioning (i.e., couple cohesion and flexibility). The number of vacations was not a significant predictor of romantic couples’ satisfaction with relationship life; what mattered most was the extent to which partners were engaged in joint experiences during their vacations such as having fun together, mindful conversations, physical intimacy, and trying new things together. These findings demonstrate the need to continue to study less frequent, extraordinary leisure vacation experiences that may help maintain the love within romantic relationships. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Introduction/purpose: The paper reflexively documents (for the first time) as a consistent approach a participatory, co-creative storytelling practice for organic place branding as developed by the researcher across cinema, digital platforms, and word-of-mouth. Focus of this paper is on the societal impact of an implicit approach, to be structured into a repeatable process. Research limitations: The paper is based on reflexive observations and insights. The original empirical materials were co-created with stakeholders or developed for cinema, creative industry, or other applied uses, with the intent to develop a formalized methodology. Empirical research assets were therefore interpreted, reframed, or reflected upon from the viewpoint of both (a) social sciences and humanities and (b) place branding, leisure direction, and impact viewpoints. Theoretical framework: This paper is presented as a case study. A theoretical justification is provided. Methodology/main research approach: Reflexive reporting of art-based participatory interventions, between activism (action research) and storytelling for place branding. Findings: Reference cases will be grounded in the City of Turin, Italy, and most specifically its underprivileged Mirafiori and Borgo Aurora districts. The paper will frame an organic field practice through reflexively structuring it as a repeatable process. Impacts of an economic, social, and artistic nature will be documented. Specific empirical research assets include: (a) fictional movie and documentary (2014, 2019); (b) video clips, based on participatory interviews; (c) reflexive evidence from original approach bridging (cinematic) storytelling to place branding; (4) information and evidence on economic and social impacts, as extracted from (a) news and other secondary sources, and (b) primary statements from key stakeholders. Conclusions: The paper will offer two key value points: (a) Reflexive externalization by stakeholders of an implicit approach; (b) Potential formalization into a repeatable process, for universal adoption. The authors are committed to achieving the most societal impact through their research and consulting work and the paper will provide the opportunity to transfer findings, learnings, and assets to a wider community of stakeholders, for example, citizens and practitioners, with the required methodological reliability. Practical implications: The focus of this paper is eminently practical in terms of translating an organic practice at the crossroads of the creative industry, cinematic arts, and place branding, into a structured approach, and possibly a process. The outcome will be a reflexive repeatable formalization of the said approach, for future consideration and adoption by place branding leaders and stakeholders, with societal impact as the priority.

Contains fulltext : 293088.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) There remains some debate about whether beta power effects observed during sentence comprehension reflect ongoing syntactic unification operations (beta-syntax hypothesis), or instead reflect maintenance or updating of the sentence-level representation (beta-maintenance hypothesis). In this study, we used magnetoencephalography to investigate beta power neural dynamics while participants read relative clause sentences that were initially ambiguous between a subject- or an object-relative reading. An additional condition included a grammatical violation at the disambiguation point in the relative clause sentences. The beta-maintenance hypothesis predicts a decrease in beta power at the disambiguation point for unexpected (and less preferred) object-relative clause sentences and grammatical violations, as both signal a need to update the sentence-level representation. While the beta-syntax hypothesis also predicts a beta power decrease for grammatical violations due to a disruption of syntactic unification operations, it instead predicts an increase in beta power for the object-relative clause condition because syntactic unification at the point of disambiguation becomes more demanding. We observed decreased beta power for both the agreement violation and object-relative clause conditions in typical left hemisphere language regions, which provides compelling support for the beta-maintenance hypothesis. Mid-frontal theta power effects were also present for grammatical violations and object-relative clause sentences, suggesting that violations and unexpected sentence interpretations are registered as conflicts by the brain's domain-general error detection system. 18 mei 2023 22 p.

Immersion is a concept that is frequently used in themed entertainment. Yet, while we all have an intuitive understanding of what immersion is, most industry members regard it as a fuzzy concept. I would like to give an overview of what the scientific literature has to say about immersion, where the concept is also being regarded as ill-defined. To tackle this conceptual unclarity, I would like to revolutionize the discussion by proposing a psychological framework to better understand immersion by drawing from the theory of play. Practical implementations will be included to make the framework useful for practitioners as well.

Conference on Regenerative approaches organised in collaboration between Aspira college in Split, Croatia and Terra Meera, Center for Regeneration in Croatia.

We examined the neural correlates of facial attractiveness by presenting pictures of male or female faces (neutral expression) with low/intermediate/high attractiveness to 48 male or female participants while recording their electroencephalogram (EEG). Subjective attractiveness ratings were used to determine the 10% highest, 10% middlemost, and 10% lowest rated faces for each individual participant to allow for high contrast comparisons. These were then split into preferred and dispreferred gender categories. ERP components P1, N1, P2, N2, early posterior negativity (EPN), P300 and late positive potential (LPP) (up until 3000 ms post-stimulus), and the face specific N170 were analysed. A salience effect (attractive/unattractive > intermediate) in an early LPP interval (450–850 ms) and a long-lasting valence related effect (attractive > unattractive) in a late LPP interval (1000–3000 ms) were elicited by the preferred gender faces but not by the dispreferred gender faces. Multi-variate pattern analysis (MVPA)-classifications on whole-brain single-trial EEG patterns further confirmed these salience and valence effects. It is concluded that, facial attractiveness elicits neural responses that are indicative of valenced experiences, but only if these faces are considered relevant. These experiences take time to develop and last well beyond the interval that is commonly explored.

PurposeThis study aimed to determine the motivations of a select group of South Africans in terms of their potential engagement with cultural tourism; more specifically, the study set out to show whether these motivations influence the cultural activities that the tourists want to participate in and whether their interest in specific cultural activities determines their destination choices. Furthermore, the mediating role of activities in the relationship between cultural motivations and destination choice was also assessed.Design/methodology/approachAn online panel survey collected responses from 1,530 potential cultural tourists across South Africa. Hypotheses were tested, using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results show that tourists' motivations for cultural tourism influence their likelihood of participating in specific cultural activities. Cultural tourism is shown to be influenced by more than learning and includes entertainment, relaxation, novelty and escape dimensions. There also seems to be a difference in the activities engaged in by destination type. For example, tourists likely to take part in indigenous cultural tourism activities are more likely to do so at hedonic destinations.Practical implicationsThis paper contributes to the understanding of cultural tourism activities, aiding destinations in attracting cultural tourists. Destinations need to develop activities that match visitor motivations, increase satisfaction and encourage visitors to return.Originality/valueThe paper increases the understanding of cultural tourism in South Africa and underlines the importance of communities in providing distinctive tourism activities. The study also has an important social dimension, highlighting the role of social status in cultural tourism consumption and destination selection.

Questions & Action (multiple days) with the music industry on the topic of cigarete waste.

Purpose This paper aims to articulates how educators are ideal candidates to become “brand ambassadors”, triggering dormant qualities to influence behavioral change. The study aims at advocating a call for environmental futures by mobilizing pedagogues for changemaking. The research purpose was to deduce insights of real-life experiences when dealing with social influencers. Design/methodology/approach A design research approach was adopted. A sample of educators and students representing two universities of applied sciences was selected for qualitative. An experimental participatory experience was facilitated and observed. Findings This paper provides empirical insights. Design research findings include a persona profile, and an experimental prototype, designed to activate findings for real world impact. The outcome is for impact in the real world. Research limitations/implications The research was conducted locally at a Dutch university of applied sciences, on behalf of a Norwegian commissioner. Therefore, cultural contextual conditions were factored. Practical implications An applicable advice is sketched, tested and shared with non governmental organization’s, institutions or stakeholders who aspire to mobilize and activate educators, turning them into ambassadors for their cause. Social implications This paper aims at contributing and taking a position within the current tensions in academia and in the educational sector, in the light of the2012 San Francisco Declaration of Research Assessment declaration and of the urgency of enabling educators to partake to climate change activism. Originality/value Besides the engaged topic, this paper is uniquely based on a highly experiential, design thinking approach, which was co-created and facilitated in an experimental setting.

This paper comments on the analysis by Leung and Thomas (2021) on the role of specialist event journals in shaping the field of event management research. It agrees with their analysis of the distribution of papers, particularly in terms of the dominance of the English language, although it argues that a wider analysis of the literature reveals a wealth of non-English sources as well. It offers some thoughts on the driving forces behind the distribution of event management publications, including journal ranking systems, economic power and the advent of new information technologies. It argues that journals should act as curators and leaders in the field, helping to open new avenues for research.

It is commonly assumed that TV commercials successfully influence affective tourism destination image by coupling positive emotions to a destination. In this study we record emotional responses to destination pictures before and after viewing a destination TV commercial from participants’ brains using electroencephalography (EEG). A control group of participants watched the same destination pictures, and an unrelated TV commercial. Emotion-related event-related potential (ERP) components, the P2 and LPP, were derived from the EEG. For the participants that watched the destination TV commercial, the P2 and the LPP were larger in response to destination pictures after compared to before having watched the TV commercial. This effect was not observed in the control group. In a behavioral version of the same experiment, we did not observe any effects in the self-report data. It is concluded that ERP methodology is a useful tool to complement the toolbox of tourism marketing researchers.

Cultural festivals can attract cultural tourists, extend the tourist season and add vibrancy to the cultural scene. However, there is relatively little research on how festivals affect tourist experience of the destination or outcomes such as satisfaction or repeat visitation. This study used the Event Experience Scale to measure tourist experiences at three cultural festivals in Hong Kong–the Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and the Cheung Chau Bun Festival. The findings show that tourist experiences of these festivals are distinct, and they positively affect destination image and behavioural outcomes. Relative to permanent attractions and tours, festival experiences elicit stronger affective, conative and novelty responses. Festivals also convey a stronger impression of Hong Kong as a destination exhibiting Chinese and traditional culture, but less as a global city. The festival experience is associated with positive outcomes, namely greater satisfaction, intention to recommend and intention to return.

Aesthetic experiences have an influence on many aspects of life. Interest in the neural basis of aesthetic experiences has grown rapidly in the past decade, and fMRI studies have identified several brain systems supporting aesthetic experiences. Work on the rapid neuronal dynamics of aesthetic experience, however, is relatively scarce. This study adds to this field by investigating the experience of being aesthetically moved by means of ERP and time–frequency analysis. Participants' EEG was recorded while they viewed a diverse set of artworks and evaluated the extent to which these artworks moved them. Results show that being aesthetically moved is associated with a sustained increase in gamma activity over centroparietal regions. In addition, alpha power over right frontocentral regions was reduced in high- and low-moving images, compared to artworks given intermediate ratings. We interpret the gamma effect as an indication for sustained savoring processes for aesthetically moving artworks compared to aesthetically less-moving artworks. The alpha effect is interpreted as an indication of increased attention for aesthetically salient images. In contrast to previous works, we observed no significant effects in any of the established ERP components, but we did observe effects at latencies longer than 1 sec. We conclude that EEG time–frequency analysis provides useful information on the neuronal dynamics of aesthetic experience.

We facilitated a the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop for participants of the STEPup conference in Pattaya, Thailand.

Evenals vorig jaar hebben de gemeente Zandvoort en de organisatie van de Dutch Grand Prix (DGP) Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) gevraagd om de economische, sociale en maatschappelijke impact van het evenement Dutch Grand Prix 2022 en haar side events (onder de noemer Zandvoort Beyond) te onderzoeken. Dit onderzoeksrapport geeft de resultaten weer en licht toe hoe deze resultaten tot stand gekomen zijn. Het onderzoek is uitgevoerd middels gestructureerde vragenlijsten afgenomen onder bezoekers van het circuit, bezoekers aan het dorp Zandvoort, ondernemers van Zandvoort en bewoners van Zandvoort, Bloemendaal, Heemstede, Haarlem, Haarlemmermeer en Velsen. Daarnaast is aanvullende informatie opgevraagd bij de organisatie van de Dutch Grand Prix, Stichting Zandvoort Beyond, Zandvoort Marketing en Gemeente Zandvoort.

Being able to classify experienced emotions by identifying distinct neural responses has tremendous value in both fundamental research (e.g. positive psychology, emotion regulation theory) and in applied settings (clinical, healthcare, commercial). We aimed to decode the neural representation of the experience of two discrete emotions: sadness and disgust, devoid of differences in valence and arousal. In a passive viewing paradigm, we showed emotion evoking images from the International Affective Picture System to participants while recording their EEG. We then selected a subset of those images that were distinct in evoking either sadness or disgust (20 for each), yet were indistinguishable on normative valence and arousal. Event-related potential analysis of 69 participants showed differential responses in the N1 and EPN components and a support-vector machine classifier was able to accurately classify (58%) whole-brain EEG patterns of sadness and disgust experiences. These results support and expand on earlier findings that discrete emotions do have differential neural responses that are not caused by differences in valence or arousal.

Myths can be part of the established narratives of tourist destinations: they offer a perspective on reality that may alter it but that makes it also more insightful by highlighting its inner contradictions and idiosyncrasies and challenging the universal values underlying it. This altered perspective on a place ensures visitors will feel touched by the myth and connected to the place, and the myth itself will be retold. In this paper, we discuss how we have connected narrative to story and story to myth to (re)tell the narratives of people and places and to enhance, in this way, the overall visitor experience in (tourist) destinations. We review two storytelling/placemaking projects that were commissioned to us by several regional, tourism organizations in Brabant, a province in the South of the Netherlands. The projects are: Becoming Vincent, a project about Vincent van Gogh; and Crossroads, a project about heritage from WWII. The aim of these projects was to draft a unique, narrative concept and design storylines that would link and upgrade the sites related to that heritage to eventually attract tourists there, and/or to stimulate visitors to visit more sites connected to the same theme. Finally, we draw lessons we learnt from these projects and highlight the insights we gained in the use of storytelling for mythmaking in tourist destinations

Structured experience (SE) providers continuously evaluate and improve their experiential offerings to make them more memorable. Arguably, the temporal dynamics of the emotions in an experience have a crucial influence on its memorability. Traditional post-experience evaluation procedures tend to ignore these temporal dynamics, thus offering imprecise feedback for providers on exactly when and where to optimize their experiential offerings. In this paper, we use two methods as a tool for evaluating how closely the lived experience of a SE follows the experience as intended by the provider: real-time skin conductance (SC) and experience reconstruction measures (ERMs). We demonstrate that both SC and ERMs are significantly related to intended experience. This link was found to be stronger for later sections of the experience than for earlier sections. In addition, SC and ERMs appear to be useful tools to assess the effectiveness of design interventions, thus providing valuable feedback for SE providers.

This paper examines the position of crafts within the creative industries and considers how this has been affected by the growing links between the creative industries and tourism. A review of the creative industries concept indicates that crafts occupy an ambiguous position between art and tradition, which problematises their relationship with the creative industries. This is gradually changing at the creative and tourism sectors become more closely linked, and craft has become an important element of the development of creative tourism experiences. We review the role of craft in creative tourism, including case studies from Brazil, Finland, and Thailand, to examine how tourism can support the creative development of crafts. This analysis indicates that craft can be an important aspect of creative tourism development in different contexts and can provide a strong basis for placemaking initiatives.

Presentation at the Annual Lego(r) Serious Play(r) conference of the Certified Lego Serious Play facilitators in Denmark

There is a growing debate about the use of creativity for sustainable development, particularly in terms of increasing the creative potential of cities. However, studies based on the experiences and perspectives of leading authors in this area are limited. Greg Richards is a long-standing researcher on the application of creativity in various socio-economic sectors, including creative tourism, creative cities, economy, and creative industries. This study, based on a semi-structured interview conducted with Greg Richards, seeks to present some reflections and ideas for ways forward, considering the scenario before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic and its possible effects on the new economy. Particular attention is paid to the emerge of ‘glocal’ creativity, especially related to the UNESCO Creative Cities.

The Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic represented a significant break with previous patterns of cultural consumption, effectively halting the growth of ‘mass cultural tourism’ driven by cheap flights and collaborative economy accommodation. Surveys conducted by the ATLAS Cultural Tourism Group in Portugal were used to develop a detailed picture of cultural tourism consumption during the pandemic. In 2020 and early 2021 surveys were conducted at different locations in the country, generating over 500 responses. The research shows that Covid-19 had significant impacts on the profile and activities of cultural tourists in Portugal, with much more domestic tourism at most sites, and fewer visitors staying away from home. Levels of satisfaction and intention to return remained high, as did perceived authenticity. There was a significant drop in touring holidays, with visitors more likely to stay in a single location. Those tourists visiting cultural attractions during the pandemic had a positive experience, despite the challenging conditions. Levels of satisfaction increased compared with previous surveys in Portugal in 2004, but there were also fluctuations in levels of satisfaction during the pandemic period, correlated with levels of Covid-19 infections. Some indications of emerging alternative forms of cultural tourism include an increased proclivity for rural locations and inland areas, away from destinations usually associated with mass (cultural) tourism. The paper concludes by considering a number of implications for the development of cultural tourism in Portugal and other destinations in the post-pandemic era.

Being able to understand and explain the different ways of using Design Hackathons in education. Analyzing the advantages of using collective design for nurturing innovation, Getting acquainted with strategies and structures of applying Design Hackathons in the classroom.