RESEARCH
The Power of Traditional Design Techniques: The Effects of Viewing a Japanese Garden on Individuals With Cognitive Impairment
Summary
This study, titled “The Power of Traditional Design Techniques: The Effects of Viewing a Japanese Garden on Individuals With Cognitive Impairment”, investigated the impact of viewing a Japanese garden on Japanese patients with dementia. The research was motivated by a previous study in the United States which showed that viewing an indoor Japanese garden reduced heart rate, evoked memories, and improved behavioral symptoms in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. However, the previous study left open whether these effects were due to the specific design of the Japanese garden or the unfamiliarity of the design to Caucasian subjects. To address this, the researchers constructed a Japanese garden on the rooftop of a hospital in Japan and assessed 25 subjects with middle-late-stage dementia under four different viewing conditions: viewing the site before the garden construction (control space), viewing the Japanese garden with the door open, viewing the Japanese garden with the door closed, and viewing the garden with the door closed plus a chrysanthemum scent. Data was collected on eye movement, heart rate, and behavior. An additional test using eye movement tracking was conducted with eight subjects with early-stage dementia due to the difficulty in calibrating the equipment with subjects with more advanced impairment.
The study found that viewing the Japanese garden significantly impacted physiological and psychological responses. Eye movement analysis showed that subjects scanned a larger area when viewing the Japanese garden compared to the control space. Viewing the Japanese garden significantly reduced heart rate and improved behavioral symptoms compared to the control space. The effects of viewing the garden differed across the conditions; for example, attention paid to the garden was greatly affected by whether the door was open or closed. The addition of scent altered the focal point of attention, particularly increasing attention to plants and stones when the door was closed. The results suggested that the observed effects were likely due to the design characteristics of the Japanese garden itself, rather than unfamiliarity, and highlighted that effects are not solely dependent on visual stimuli but also physical experience and potentially olfactory cues.
