Psychological benefits of the person-nature relationship

The literature reports different benefits of people's relationship with nature. However, for the field of psychology the evidence is partial and not integrated. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to understand the psychological benefits of people's relationship with nature from a systemic review of empirical articles indexed in the Wos, Scopus and Scielo database, between the years 2015 and 2020. We used the PRISMA model for the search, identification and suitability of the articles, which were analyzed in their bibliometric characteristics and thematic content. The main bibliometric findings show that articles produced in the United Kingdom and the United States predominate, conducted in urban natural environments using quantitative methodologies with the use of surveys and physiological measurements. Thematically, we distinguish five dimensions of psychological benefits: restoration of attention, restoration and/or reduction of stress, psychological well-being, mental health and psychosocial benefits. We argue that these benefits are articulated by an activity that mediates people's relationship with nature. We conclude by pointing out the relevance of future research in the Latin American context, the integration of mediating activities and the use of qualitative methodologies.

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

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.

Role of Restorativeness in Improving the Psychological Well-Being of University Students

Many university students experience high levels of study-related fatigue, hence, necessitating opportunities for restoration. They could potentially benefit from campus-based physical activities that provide them with effective restoration breaks and allow them to return to their studies cognitively refreshed. Thus, a cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the association between perceived restorativeness among postgraduates and their psychological well-being by using the four constructs of Kaplan's attention restoration theory (ART): fascination, being away, extent, and compatibility. In this study, nature view windows were also used as a moderator. Malaysian postgraduate students [n = 192; 94 females; age in years (M = 30.64, SD = 2.73)] completed the Ryff's scale of psychological wellbeing (PWB) and perceived restorativeness scale for activity (PRAS). This study used the partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) to examine these relationships. The results demonstrate that three ART constructs, namely, being away, fascination, and compatibility, are significant predictors of psychological well-being across the sample size. Furthermore, for participants who reside in university dormitories, windows that overlook nature can enhance the relationship of being away, compatibility, and fascination to psychological well-being, compared with those with less natural views. Thus, this study confirmed the moderating effect of nature view windows and provided insight into the ART constructs that facilitate and enhance restorative experiences. By strengthening ART with additional factors, this study has also contributed toward the improvement of the psychological well-being of university students.

The Contribution to Stress Recovery and Attention Restoration Potential of Exposure to Urban Green Spaces in Low-Density Residential Areas

This study assessed the contributions of urban green spaces on mental health with joint consideration of people’s physiological and psychological responses. The psychological and physiological responses of participants aged between 22 and 28, who visited green spaces in a low-density area of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, were measured using Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) methods and biometric wearable sensing devices, respectively. Results showed that exposure to green space led to significant changes in PRS, electrodermal activity (EDA), facial electromyography (EMG), respiration sensor (RESP), and photoplethysmography (PPG), while there is no significant impact on skin temperature (SKT). Additionally, psychological and physiological responses were highly consistent and correlated (R < 0.8). The results also indicated that green spaces with high plant species richness, a water landscape, bumpy ground, cultural landscape, and without roadways presented a high performance on stress recovery and attention restoration. At the same time, the influence of openness was negligible in the low-density area. The study provides planners and landscape designers with specific guidance for implementing urban green spaces to improve mental health in low-density residential areas.

Psychophysiological Response According to the Greenness Index of Subway Station Space

This study proposed a plan for implementing a pleasant and healthy indoor landscape in subway station space. To this end, it established a 3D landscape model of the subway interior by reviewing previous studies on indoor landscape and the greenness index of indoor spaces. Moreover, it investigated and analyzed psychophysiological responses of users to environmental indoor landscape design in subway station space. Subway stations were classified as underground subway stations and ground subway stations according to the presence of natural light inflow. The greenness index of indoor spaces was also divided into four types of 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. Through this process, eight 3D landscape models of the subway interior were implemented. In addition, this study investigated psychophysiological responses of 60 male and female adults in their 20s and 30s using the models implemented. The investigation result was analyzed based on a frequency analysis, the χ2 test, T-test, one-way analysis of variance, and multidimensional scaling, which were performed in SPSS Statistics 25. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, physiological responses of research subjects were analyzed based on their prefrontal α wave asymmetric values. The analytic result showed that the environment where interior landscape was adopted produced more positive effects than the environment where interior landscape was not adopted. Second, psychological responses of research subjects were examined based on their greenness index preference, awareness of interior landscape area, attention restoration effect, and space images. The analytic result indicated that, among eight 3D landscape models of the subway interior, they preferred the model with the greenness index of 15% for underground subway stations. In addition, they preferred the model with the greenness index of 10% the most for ground subway stations.