scholarly journals The Differential Impact of Mystery in Nature on Attention: An Oculometric Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Marois ◽  
Brooke Charbonneau ◽  
Andrew M. Szolosi ◽  
Jason M. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
Voluntary Attention ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Restoration Potential ◽  
Attentional Engagement ◽  
Attention Deployment ◽  
Do So

Nature exposure can provide benefits on stress, health and cognitive performance. According to Attention Restoration Theory (ART), the positive impact of nature on cognition is mainly driven by fascination. Fascinating properties of nature such as water or a winding hiking trail may capture involuntary attention, allowing the directed form of attention to rest and to recover. This claim has been supported by studies relying on eye-tracking measures of attention deployment, comparing exposure to urban and nature settings. Yet, recent studies have shown that promoting higher engagement with a nature setting can improve restorative benefits, hence challenging ART’s view that voluntary attention is resting. Besides, recent evidence published by Szolosi et al. (2014) suggests that voluntary attention may be involved during exposure to high-mystery nature images which they showed as having greater potential for attention restoration. The current study explored how exposure to nature images of different scenic qualities in mystery (and restoration potential) could impact the engagement of attention. To do so, participants were shown nature images characterized by either low or high mystery properties (with allegedly low or high restoration potential, respectively) and were asked to evaluate their fascination and aesthetic levels. Concurrently, an eye tracker collected measures of pupil size, fixations and spontaneous blinks as indices of attentional engagement. Results showed that high-mystery nature images had higher engagement than low-mystery images as supported by the larger pupil dilations, the higher number of fixations and the reduced number of blinks and durations of fixations. Taken together, these results challenge ART’s view that directed attention is merely resting during exposure to restorative nature and offer new hypotheses on potential mechanisms underlying attention restoration.

scholarly journals Closed-Loop Attention Restoration Theory for Virtual Reality-Based Attentional Engagement Enhancement

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 2208
Author(s):  
Gang Li ◽  
Shihong Zhou ◽  
Zhen Kong ◽  
Mengyuan Guo
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
First Case ◽  
Attentional Engagement

Today, as media and technology multitasking becomes pervasive, the majority of young people face a challenge regarding their attentional engagement (that is, how well their attention can be maintained). While various approaches to improve attentional engagement exist, it is difficult to produce an effect in younger people, due to the inadequate attraction of these approaches themselves. Here, we show that a single 30-min engagement with an attention restoration theory (ART)-inspired closed-loop software program (Virtual ART) delivered on a consumer-friendly virtual reality head-mounted display (VR-HMD) could lead to improvements in both general attention level and the depth of engagement in young university students. These improvements were associated with positive changes in both behavioral (response time and response time variability) and key electroencephalography (EEG)-based neural metrics (frontal midline theta inter-trial coherence and parietal event-related potential P3b). All the results were based on the comparison of the standard Virtual ART tasks (control group, n = 15) and closed-loop Virtual ART tasks (treatment group, n = 15). This study provides the first case of EEG evidence of a VR-HMD-based closed-loop ART intervention generating enhanced attentional engagement.

Perceived Green at Speed: A Simulated Driving Experiment Raises New Questions for Attention Restoration Theory and Stress Reduction Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 001391652094711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Jiang ◽  
Jibo He ◽  
Jielin Chen ◽  
Linda Larsen ◽  
Huaqing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Mental Status ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Active Movement ◽  
Reduction Theory ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Simulated Driving ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
High Speeds ◽  
The Impact

Few studies have investigated the impact of landscapes on humans’ mental status while they are moving at high speeds, such as driving on the freeway. This study used a simulation system to measure drivers’ mental responses to six different freeway landscapes. Each of the 33 participants completed six different 90-minute simulated driving tasks in a randomly assigned sequence. The six landscape conditions consisted of an identical freeway infrastructure, with different roadside landscapes. Results show significant differences between landscape conditions and drivers’ mental responses. Landscape conditions with greater greenness, in general, had a greater positive impact on drivers’ mental status. The barren and tree regular landscapes yielded the worst and best results, respectively. Further, higher complexity was associated with a higher level of negative mental status. We argue that the speed of human’s active movement should be considered as an essential factor in the Attention Restoration Theory and Stress Reduction Theory.

scholarly journals Influence of Perceptual Range on Perceived Restoration

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moohan Kim ◽  
Jae-Hyuck Lee ◽  
Woo-Yeong Joo
Keyword(s):  
Green Space ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Spatial Perception ◽  
Health Utility ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Perceptual Range ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Do So

In daily living environments, an individual’s state influences 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. Cognitive mapping and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) were used to assess spatial perception ranges and the restorative effect of the environment. Two spatial perceptual groups were defined: one describing only the internal area of a green space, and another illustrating the external area of this green space on a larger scale. 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 frequency of nature visits and time spent traveling to do so differently influence the two groups’ attentional restoration, which has great implications for landscape planning in highly stressful urban environments.

scholarly journals Nature-Based Physical Activity Advertising: Recommendations Based on Attention Restoration Theory and Psychoevolutionary Theory

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam G Gavarkovs
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Physical Activities ◽  
Natural Images ◽  
Message Design ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Attention Restoration Theory ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Health Promotion Campaign

Recent research has suggested that physical activity in natural areas may provide benefits that exceed those in other settings. Additional benefits include increased self-esteem and enjoyment of the activity, and decreased negative mood states and blood pressure. Therefore, encouraging nature-based physical activities may play an important role in the promotion of health and wellness. Advertising has been cited as an important component of a health promotion campaign; although to date no study has recommended strategies for designing advertising specific to nature-based physical activities. The purpose of this article is to review two prominent human-nature interaction frameworks, Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Psychoevolutionary Theory (PET), and based on their tenets, recommend strategies for message design. The two recommendations proposed are: (1) to include natural images that meet the restorative criteria outlined in both theories; and (2) to explicitly feature the additional benefits of exercising in natural spaces in advertisements. Adhering to these recommendations in the advertisement design process may increase the effectiveness of the message.

scholarly journals Do parents provide a helping hand to vocabulary development in bilingual children?

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valery LIMIA ◽  
Şeyda ÖZÇALIŞKAN ◽  
Erika HOFF
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Parental Response ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
Child Gesture ◽  
Do So

AbstractMonolingual children identify referents uniquely in gesture before they do so with words, and parents translate these gestures into words. Children benefit from these translations, acquiring the words that their parents translated earlier than the ones that are not translated. Are bilingual children as likely as monolingual children to identify referents uniquely in gesture; and do parental translations have the same positive impact on the vocabulary development of bilingual children? Our results showed that the bilingual children – dominant in English or in Spanish – were as likely as monolingual children to identify referents uniquely in gesture. More importantly, the unique gestures, when translated into words by the parents, were as likely to enter bilingual and monolingual children's speech – independent of language dominance. Our results suggest that parental response to child gesture plays as crucial of a role in the vocabulary development of bilingual children as it does in monolingual children.

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