![]() A virtual reality version of a natural environment had physiological effects through a reduced skin conductance response and increased positive affect ( Valtchanov, Barton, & Ellard, 2010), and stress was reduced in response to both a natural outdoor environment and pictures of a natural environment ( Kjellgren & Buhrkall, 2010). Viewing pictures of natural scenes has been shown to improve attention when compared to viewing pictures of urban scenes and even geometric shapes ( Berto, 2005). Most of the research described above has examined the effects of participants physically being in a natural environment, however, more recent studies have investigated whether simulated forms of nature can have restorative effects, as well. Only one other study has looked at the effects of nature on attention in older adults, finding that attention on the Necker Cube Pattern Control, Digit Span Forward and Backward, and the Symbol Digits Modalities Test, improved more after sitting outside for an hour compared to sitting inside for an hour ( Ottosson & Grahn, 2005). Older adults, the target population in the present study, also experience declines in some aspects of executive control or attention ( Verhaeghen, 2011), as well as increased fatigue that affects their daily lives and well-being ( Yu, Lee, & Man, 2010). The restorative benefits of nature have been found in varied populations, from college students ( Tennessen & Cimprich, 1995) to groups suffering from impaired attention, such as women with breast cancer ( Cimprich, 1993) and children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( Faber Taylor & Kuo, 2009). Nature has been shown to reduce stress in participants who have been experimentally stressed ( Ulrich, et al., 1991), as well as to reduce recovery time from gall bladder removal surgery ( Ulrich, 1984), and to improve attentional capacity in women recovering from breast cancer surgery ( Cimprich & Ronis, 2003). Kaplan & Berman, 2010).Ī range of evidence supports the Attention Restoration Theory. An urban environment, according to Kaplan, may also capture our involuntary attention, but does so with less inherently appealing stimuli, such as police sirens, thus requiring people to use effortful top-down, directed attention, to overcome these stimuli and re-focus their attention ( S. It must: (1) be fascinating, effortlessly capturing attention in a bottom-up manner (2) provide a feeling of being away, allowing the mind to wander from daily stresses (3) be extensive, providing a desire to explore more of the environment and (4) be compatible with one’s desires or needs, providing opportunities to take part in enjoyable activities. ![]() He argues that a natural environment must meet four criteria to be restorative. Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory proposes further, that in capturing involuntary attention, nature permits fatigued directed attention to rest and be restored. The present study is the first to investigate whether this Nature Effect occurs in healthy older adults as well, an important question because executive attention is essential for everyday life and independent living ( Banich, 2009).īuilding upon the theories of William James, Kaplan posits that there are two kinds of attention, directed and involuntary, and that nature captures our involuntary attention in a bottom-up, stimulus-driven manner ( S. ![]() Kaplan, 1995) has shown that brief exposure to nature scenes improves executive attention in young adults ( Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2008). Research inspired by Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory ( S. Natural environments are not only preferred to more urban environments, but time in nature has psychological benefits, too, such as increasing people’s positive outlook and psychological energy ( R. For example, Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed Central Park, created places of respite in urban areas to induce, “refreshing rest and invigoration to the whole system” (c.f. ![]() Nature has been a means of escape from the stresses of the city for centuries. ![]()
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