Effects of Natural Environmental Stimulation Duration on Psychophysiological Recovery Benefits

The rapid pace of modern life, as well as chronic work and academic overloading, contribute to our society’s progressively increasing stress levels. Chronic stress can affect both physical and mental well-being. Numerous studies have confirmed that viewing a nature-based video presentation can reduce stress and result in attention recovery. However, the discourse has been primarily focused upon stimulation applied over a single duration, rather than over various durations. Therefore, the present study explored the effect of various viewing durations with regard to forest-related videos on stress reduction and attention recovery. Before the videos’ presentation, the participants’ stress and distraction levels were increased through stimulation. Data on stress, attention, and relaxation were collected through the implementation of the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory and an electroencephalogram instrument. Equal numbers from the 90 participants (i.e., 30) were assigned to watch a short, medium-length, or long video (5, 10, and 20 minutes in duration, respectively). The viewing of 20-minute forest-related videos significantly promoted stress reduction and physiological relaxation. The present findings advance the understanding of the relationship between viewing nature scenes duration and psychophysiological states; thus, they serve as a reference for future research on the natural-dose concept, as well as the development of relevant activities and courses.

Images of Nature, Nature-Self Representation, and Environmental Attitudes

Prior work suggests that feeling small relative to nature (Nature-Self Size; NSS) and inclusion of nature in the self-concept (INS) are both associated with more pro-environmental attitudes. The present experiment asked whether exposure to stimuli eliciting awe—an emotion often evoked by extraordinary panoramic views of nature, characterized by subjective experience of “small self” and modulation of reliance on stored concepts—leads to increased NSS and/or INS, thereby promoting pro-environmental policy attitudes. Participants in this online experiment were randomly assigned to view photographs of extraordinary panoramic nature scenes, prosaic nature images, desirable foods, or neutral scenes before completing measures of INS, NSS, and support for environmental conservation policies. Analyses revealed that INS significantly mediated the effects of exposure to panoramic nature scenes (versus a neutral control) on pro-environmental policy attitudes; however, the same effect was observed for the prosaic nature and tasty foods images. Results suggest that exposure to awe-eliciting stimuli can promote pro-environmental attitudes via modulation of the self-concept, but this may be due to pleasant affect rather than awe per se. Future research with real-life stimuli and longitudinal designs is needed to further examine the lasting effects of awe and other emotional states on the self-concept and associated environmental attitudes.

Dimensions and Clusters of Aesthetic Emotions: A Semantic Profile Analysis

Aesthetic emotions are elicited by different sensory impressions generated by music, visual arts, literature, theater, film, or nature scenes. Recently, the AESTHEMOS scale has been developed to facilitate the empirical assessment of such emotions. In this article we report a semantic profile analysis of aesthetic emotion terms that had been used for the development of this scale, using the GRID approach. This method consists of obtaining ratings of emotion terms on a set of meaning facets (features) which represent five components of the emotion process (appraisal, bodily reactions, action tendencies, expression, and feelings). The aims here were (a) to determine the dimensionality of the GRID features when applied to aesthetic emotions and compare it to published results for emotion terms in general, and (b) to examine the internal organization of the domain of aesthetic emotion terms in order to identify salient clusters of these items based on the similarity of their feature profiles on the GRID. Exploratory Principal Component Analyses suggest a four-dimensional structure of the semantic space consisting of valence, power, arousal, and novelty, converging with earlier GRID studies on large sets of standard emotion terms. Using cluster analyses, 15 clusters of aesthetic emotion terms with similar GRID feature profiles were identified, revealing the internal organization of the aesthetic emotion terms domain and meaningful subgroups of aesthetic emotions. While replication for further languages is required, these findings provide a solid basis for further research and methodological development in the realm of aesthetic emotions.

The nature effect in motion: visual exposure to environmental scenes impacts cognitive load and human gait kinematics

Prolonged exposure to urban environments requires higher cognitive processing resources than exposure to nature environments, even if only visual cues are available. Here, we explored the moment-to-moment impact of environment type on visual cognitive processing load, measuring gait kinematics and reaction times. In Experiment 1, participants ( n = 20) walked toward nature and urban images projected in front of them, one image per walk, and rated each image for visual discomfort. Gait speed and step length decreased for exposure to urban as compared with nature scenes in line with gait changes observed during verbal cognitive load tasks. We teased apart factors that might contribute to cognitive load: image statistics and visual discomfort. Gait changes correlated with subjective ratings of visual discomfort and their interaction with the environment but not with low-level image statistics. In Experiment 2, participants ( n = 45) performed a classic shape discrimination task with the same environmental scenes serving as task-irrelevant distractors. Shape discrimination was slower when urban scenes were presented, suggesting that it is harder to disengage attention from urban than from nature scenes. This provides converging evidence that increased cognitive demands posed by exposure to urban scenes can be measured with gait kinematics and reaction times even for short exposure times.

Design for Breathtaking Experiences: An Exploration of Design Strategies to Evoke Awe in Human–Product Interactions

From looking up at a skyscraper to the Grand Canyon’s vastness, you may have experienced awe in one way or another. Awe is experienced when one encounters something greater or more powerful than themselves and is associated with prosocial behavior through a diminishment of self-importance. In design research, most studies on awe have been conducted in lab conditions by using technologies such as virtual reality because of its efficiency to simulate typical awe-stimulating conditions (e.g., nature scenes). While useful in inducing awe and assessing its effects on users, they give little guidance about how design can deliberately evoke awe. Most attempts focus on the response of awe instead of its eliciting conditions. With an aim to support designers to facilitate awe, this paper explores design strategies to evoke awe. Based on appraisal theory, the cause of awe was formulated, and its relevance to designing for awe was investigated. The conditions that underlie awe in design were explored through a survey in which participants reported 150 awe experiences, resulting in six design strategies. The paper describes these strategies and discusses how they can be used in a design process, giving attention to addressing the experiential value of awe.

Autonomous Psychological Support for Isolation and Confinement

INTRODUCTION: Isolated and confined environments (ICEs), such as spaceflight, are challenging psychologically. We have been evaluating self-directed tools to sustain and improve psychological well-being in these settings. The Expedition Application for Peak Psychological Performance (Expedition-APPP) is an interactive media-based set of self-directed tools that address conflict resolution, stress management, and depression treatment. Virtual reality (VR) of nature scenes is a tool to improve attention and relieve stress by providing users with an immersive nature experience. We evaluated both Expedition-APPP and VR in an ICE.METHODS: The Expedition-APP was evaluated during three, and nature VR during two, deployments at the HI-SEAS habitat, where crews of six were isolated for 812 mo. Participants used both the Expedition-APPP and VR and shared their feedback and experiences after the deployments in semistructured interviews. These interviews were evaluated using qualitative analysis techniques to gather generalizable insights into implementing autonomous mental health programs for people living and working in ICEs.RESULTS: Expedition-APPP modules provided a shared culture, language, and tools for working through challenges. VR allowed for access to emotions and experiences that were unavailable in the habitat. Suggestions for improvement included making refresher training easily available and providing a wider range of content to address different individuals coping styles.DISCUSSION: Both the Expedition-APPP and VR were appreciated and used, although a wider range of content and experiences was desired by participants.Lyons KD, Slaughenhaupt RM, Mupparaju SH, Lim JS, Anderson AA, Stankovic AS, Cowan DR, Fellows AM, Binsted KA, Buckey JC. Autonomous psychological support for isolation and confinement. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(11):876885.

Feeling Connected after Experiencing Digital Nature: A Survey Study

Digital nature can provide a substitute for real nature for those who have limited access to green space, or are confined to their homes, for example during the worldwide COVID-19 lockdown. In a large-scale online survey, respondents (N = 1203) watched videos of digital nature, varying in terms of type of nature (wild versus tended nature) and spaciousness. Results show a significant increase of feelings of connectedness to the community after watching digital nature. Furthermore, tended nature scenes elicited more social aspirations than wild nature scenes. A multiple regression model further shows that living further away from nature was a significant predictor for loneliness scores, while number of nature interactions during a week was not. Results of this study confirm the importance of nature interaction for mental and social wellbeing for the general population and stress the potential of digital nature as a complementary strategy. These findings are of particular relevance to those who lack access to nature due to old age and related mobility constraints or a lockdown.

Translating Korean Nature. Translation Strategies in Lithuanian and English Literary Translation

World literatures today often impose a separation of narratives from their geographic and linguistic origins. Translated versions of literary texts that were created and received within local cultural contexts, when translated, enter new, foreign contexts. When translations into many other languages appear, a writer may expect many diverse valuations of one`s work. Literary texts in translation, in fact, are an inseparable from literary experiences for many readers and the study of translated texts has a long-standing tradition. The future of such texts may also lie in the emerging future reading - “distant reading” to quote Walkowitz` use of Moretti`s term. Among the strongest arguments in support of such reading is the possibility, through translated texts, to establish a more aesthetic distance towards the object of a fictional text in translation. Translation gives us as readers a new and different approach towards objects we fail to notice because of their familiarity. Nature scenes and objects may be included among such features of the narrative that could be more aesthetically appreciated in the translated versions. The paper compares translations of nature scenes and objects of Shin Kyung-Sook`s novel into English Please Look After Mom (2011) and into Lithuanian Prašau, pasirūpink mama (2019). The paper reveals the scope of translation strategies of domestication and foreignization through comparison of translation of nature scenes and items into Lithuanian and English.

Auf dem Weg in die Moderne: Adolf Heyduks Idylle Oldřich a Božena

SummaryThe love story of the Přemyslid duke Oldřich (1012–1033, 1034) and the peasant girl Božena Křesinová, who became his second wife, was a popular subject in the Bohemian chronicles of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age. The story’s social and national connotations (Božena being a lower class Czech girl) may have been one of the main factors of its renewed popularity in Czech literature and art since the end of the 18th century. Especially the Czech National Revival gave birth to several works dealing with this topic, such as ballads, romances, dramas, operas and paintings. An absolutely different way of treating the subject was presented by Adolf Heyduk (1835–1923), a representative of the ‘May School’ (Májovci). In his idyll Oldřich a Božena (1879), Heyduk largely ignored the story’s national and social implications and focussed on the love theme. Thus he was also in line with the Májovci poetics being directed against the revivalists’ strictly nationalist and patriotic orientation in literature and culture. Heyduk, moreover, strengthened the work’s symbolic and psychological dimensions, especially in an abundance of nature scenes and in Božena’s songs giving an insight into the girl’s hopes, dreams and latent desires. The work thus gains a new aesthetic quality bringing Oldřich a Božena close to modernistic conceptions.