scholarly journals The reduction of directed attention fatigue through exposure to visual nature stimuli: Exploring a natural therapy for fatigue

SURG Journal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Michael Varkovetski
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Natural Landscape ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Test Application ◽  
Attention Fatigue

This study compares the restorative effects on directed attention functioning following exposure to natural landscape images versus scrambled/distorted landscape images. Attention restoration theory (ART) provides an analysis of the stimuli and environment required for restoration of cognitive fatigue. According to ART, nature employs attention through a bottom-up process in which intrinsically fascinating stimuli from the natural environment itself modestly dominate attention. This allows the mechanisms responsible for top-down processing, which is necessary for directed attention, to recover and replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban environments employ attention through bottom-up stimulation, which forces one to overcome the stimulation using directed attention, thus not allowing for the recovery of directed attention mechanisms. This study looks into whether solely visual stimulation of natural environments is adequate for the restoration of directed attention mechanisms as measured with the “Attention Test” application. The mean completion time on the Attention Test game was significantly lower in the nature image group (M = 54.33) when compared to the scrambled image group (M = 62.04), thus validating the visual aspect of ART.

The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 1207-1212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc G. Berman ◽  
John Jonides ◽  
Stephen Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Span Task ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Cognitive Benefits

We compare the restorative effects on cognitive functioning of interactions with natural versus urban environments. Attention restoration theory (ART) provides an analysis of the kinds of environments that lead to improvements in directed-attention abilities. Nature, which is filled with intriguing stimuli, modestly grabs attention in a bottom-up fashion, allowing top-down directed-attention abilities a chance to replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban environments are filled with stimulation that captures attention dramatically and additionally requires directed attention (e.g., to avoid being hit by a car), making them less restorative. We present two experiments that show that walking in nature or viewing pictures of nature can improve directed-attention abilities as measured with a backwards digit-span task and the Attention Network Task, thus validating attention restoration theory.

Incompatibility and Mental Fatigue

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 827-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Herzog ◽  
Lauren J. Hayes ◽  
Rebecca C. Applin ◽  
Anna M. Weatherly
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Mental Fatigue ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Attention Fatigue ◽  
Report Measure

A straightforward prediction from attention restoration theory is that the level of incompatibility in a person’s life should be positively correlated with that person’s level of mental (or directed attention) fatigue. The authors tested this prediction by developing a new self-report measure of incompatibility in which they attempted to isolate all the six categories of incompatibility described by S. Kaplan: distraction, deficit of information, duty, deception, difficulty, and danger. Factor analysis revealed six factors that corresponded reasonably well to those six categories. This article found that a composite incompatibility score was positively correlated with a separate self-report measure of mental fatigue and so were all six of the subscale scores. With the exception of the score for duty, these positive correlations remained after partialing out a separate measure of the level of stress in the person’s life. The authors concluded that the proposed categories of incompatibility can be validly measured; that the constructs of incompatibility, mental fatigue, and stress are discriminable from each other; and that incompatibility is generally positively correlated with mental fatigue.

scholarly journals Cognitive Restoration from Nature Across Multiple Exposure Types - A Meta-Analysis Delineating the Effects of Test Order and Affect

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Stenfors ◽  
Stephen Charles Van Hedger ◽  
Kathryn E Schertz ◽  
Francisco Calvache Meyer ◽  
Karen Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Digit Span ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Repeated Testing ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Unpublished Studies ◽  
Test Order

Interactions with natural environments and nature-related stimuli have been found to be beneficial to cognitive performance, in particular on executive cognitive tasks with high demands on directed attention processes. However, results vary across different studies.The aim of the present study was to perform a meta-analysis of all our published and unpublished studies testing the effect of different interactions with nature versus urban/built control environments, on an executive test with high demands on directed attention: the backwards digit span (BDS) task. Specific aims were to evaluate the effect of nature versus urban environment interactions on BDS across different exposure types (e.g. being in real environments, or viewing videos, images, or listening to sounds) and disentangle the effects of testing order (i.e. practice with repeated testing) and the role of affective changes on BDS performance. We also reviewed the literature and compared and contrasted our meta-analysis with results from other studies. Results from our meta-analysis comprising 12 studies (N=567 participants) showed significant environment-by-time interactions with beneficial effects of nature compared to urban environments on BDS performance. This effect was magnified after parceling out initial practice effects on the BDS. Changes in positive or negative affect did not mediate the beneficial effects of nature on BDS performance. These results mirrored effects that we reviewed from outside of our laboratories. Uncontrolled and confounding order effects may explain some of the inconsistent findings in the literature. In all, these results highlight the robustness of the effects of natural environments on cognition when confounding order effects have been considered, and also provide a more nuanced account of when a nature intervention will be most effective.

scholarly journals Im Test: Wald als Ressource für psychisches Wohlbefinden | In Test: Forest serving as a resource for psychological well-being

2010 ◽  
Vol 161 (3) ◽  
pp. 90-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dörte Martens ◽  
Nicole Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Presentation Mode ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Exposure Condition ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Presentation Modes ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
In The Wild

Physical environment influences human health and well-being. In comparison with urban environments, natural environments contribute towards psychological well-being, which has been shown in several studies. However, a comparison of the effects caused by different natural conditions has not been focused on much. Furthermore, experiments on this topic are dominated by visual stimulation modes. Our work addresses these shortcomings. First, the dichotomy of natural and urban environments is opened up by comparing different natural environments – wild and tended forest – analyzing their impact on well-being. Second, the presentation mode, possibly influencing well-being itself, is systematically varied. In a 2 × 2 experimental design, participants from Zurich, Switzerland (N = 196), were randomly assigned to one of the treatment conditions: a walk in a wild or a tended forest area, presented by real exposure or in the laboratory by video. Self-reported well-being was assessed by standardized multidimensional scales in a pre-post design. The results demonstrate that the maintenance elicits different degrees of intensity in the influence on psychological well-being. The tended forest affected well-being more positively in some aspects, possibly due to a higher amount of dead wood arousing sadness in the wild forest. For designing urban natural areas, an appropriate degree of care should be visible for the visitor to increase the overall positive effect on well-being. Concerning the comparison of presentation modes, results show a stronger effect in the real exposure condition. However, the effect was unidirectional under both conditions, indicating the possibility to generalize laboratory results. This is important for conceptualizing further research on restoration and well-being elicited in laboratory settings.

scholarly journals A Simulated Walk in Nature: Testing Predictions From the Attention Restoration Theory

2019 ◽  
pp. 001391651988277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Crossan ◽  
Alan Salmoni
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Repeated Measures Design ◽  
Attentional Fatigue ◽  
Attention Performance ◽  
Nature Scene

Attention restoration theory (ART) predicts that top-down processing during everyday activities can cause attentional fatigue and that bottom-up processing that occurs when people experience nature will be restorative. This study exposed participants to three different conditions using a repeated measures design: a control condition during which participants walked on a typical treadmill; a nature condition during which participants walked on the same treadmill, experiencing a simulated nature walk; and a perturbation condition that included the same simulated nature scene but also required top-down processing during the walk. The findings supported ART predictions. As measured by the backward digit span test, top-down processing in a simulated natural environment nullified the restorative effects and the nature condition produced a significant improvement in directed attention performance compared to the control and perturbation conditions after a 10-min walk. These findings offer practical insights to enhance cognitive functioning through simulated natural environments.

scholarly journals Nature’s Broken Path to Restoration. A Critical Look at Attention Restoration Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Joye ◽  
Siegfried Dewitte
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Response ◽  
Psychological Effects ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Psychology Research ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Cognitive Benefits ◽  
Health Promotion Interventions

Over the past three decades, a growing body of environmental psychology research has demonstrated that interacting with natural environments – and especially greenspace – can have beneficial psychological effects on human individuals. One influential and widely-cited theoretical account to explain such effects is Attention Restoration Theory (ART). ART zooms in on the cognitive benefits nature can yield, and assumes that when an individual’s ability to concentrate or direct attention has become depleted, then nature is well-equipped to replenish this capacity. Nature’s restorative potential is thought to especially derive from its soft fascinating characteristics; these can put an individual in an effortless mode of attention, thereby giving directed attention a relative opportunity to rest and replenish itself. Although ART has been highly influential in the field of restoration studies and continues to inspire health promotion interventions, with the current paper we aim to show that the framework has important empirical and conceptual shortcomings. We specifically aim to show (a) that some of ART’s principal theoretical notions are vague (e.g., soft fascination), have remained underdeveloped, and lack a clear operationalization, (b) that the framework has failed to (adequately) test its main theoretical predictions (i.e., that nature effects are recovery effects), and (c) that there is currently little support for the ART-based assumption that restoration is – or derives from – an ancient evolved adaptive response. We conclude our paper with discussing four outstanding questions for ART, and make methodological suggestions that could potentially address some of ART’s current shortcomings.

scholarly journals Influence of Perceptual Range on Human Perceived Restoration

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moohan Kim
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Spatial Perception ◽  
Health Utility ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Perceptual Range ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Green Materials ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Gathering Data

In daily living environments, an individual’s different state of mind influences their spatial perception. The current study, based on Attention Restoration Theory, aimed to explore differences in the health utility of nature according to individual differences in spatial perception. It focused on Cheonggyecheon stream in Seoul, South Korea. Cognitive mapping and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) were used to assess two groups’ different perceived spatial ranges and the restorative effect of the environment. After gathering data, two groups were defined: one describing only the internal area of the research site (composed of green materials), and the other illustrating the external area of the site, including buildings and roads. The former had higher overall PRS, Being Away, Fascination, and Compatibility scores. The latter had higher scores only on the Coherence subscale. These results illustrate that the frequency of nature visits and time spent traveling influence the two groups’ attentional restoration, which has great implications for highly stressful urban environments.

scholarly journals Does the Mode of Exercise Influence the Benefits Obtained by Green Exercise?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (16) ◽  
pp. 3004
Author(s):  
Matthew Fraser ◽  
Sarah-Anne Munoz ◽  
Sandra MacRury
Keyword(s):  
Test Results ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Green Exercise ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Effective Performance ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Positive Feelings ◽  
Exercise Induced ◽  
Study Participants

Green exercise studies have tended to use walking as a modality of exercise to establish benefits to mental health. Whether green exercise benefits translate into different forms of green exercise has been deemed an important research gap. A mixed-methods study design was used to compare psychological responses between two forms of green exercise; golf and walking. A total of 20 participants (10 in each group), with a range of ages and experience were recruited to take part in the study. Participants in the walking condition exhibited significantly greater levels of dissociative cognitions than golf condition participants. Consequently, only the walking condition significantly improved in a directed attention test. Results from the Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory questionnaire found the walking condition demonstrated increases in all four subscales, whereas the golf condition showed no significant improvements. Based on the findings from the qualitative analysis, distinct differences were seen with regards to the perception of the environment. Participants in the golf condition noted natural elements as obstacles to effective performance, whereas the walking group noted natural stimuli as evoking positive feelings. In agreement with the Attention Restoration Theory, the current study demonstrates that the benefits of green exercise are somewhat reduced when greater levels of directed attention towards the activity are exhibited during green exercise.

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