RESEARCH

Psychological Ecosystem Services: the Impacts of Nature Experience on Affect, Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Function

A 50-minute walk in nature, compared to an urban environment, decreased anxiety, rumination and negative affect while improving working memory performance. This study provides evidence that even brief nature experiences can have significant positive impacts on both affective state and cognitive functioning.
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Summary

This study investigated the impact of nature experience on affect and cognition. The researchers randomly assigned 60 participants to take a 50-minute walk in either a natural or urban environment near Stanford University. Before and after the walk, participants completed psychological assessments measuring affect (anxiety, rumination, positive and negative affect) and cognitive functioning (working memory and attention).

Compared to the urban walk, the nature walk resulted in significant affective benefits. Specifically, the nature walk led to decreased anxiety, rumination, and negative affect, while preserving positive affect. The nature walk also produced cognitive benefits, particularly improved performance on a complex working memory task (operation span task). These findings extend previous research by demonstrating additional benefits of nature experience on affect and cognition through assessments of anxiety, rumination, and a complex measure of working memory that had not been examined in this context before.

Link

Bratman, G. N. (2016). Psychological Ecosystem Services: the Impacts of Nature Experience on Affect, Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Function – ProQuest. Proquest.com

 

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