From Forest to Focus: The Interactive Effects of Nature Exposure and Nature Relatedness on Attention, Brain Activity, Heart Rate Variability, and Mood

Attention restoration theory suggests that natural environments offer greater restorative benefits compared with urban settings. While previous research has used behavioral and questionnaire measures to demonstrate the effects of nature exposure on cognition, mood, and stress, fewer studies have explored physiological measures. This study used EEG and ECG to investigate the behavioral and psychophysiological markers of nature restoration, along with estimating the moderating influence of individual differences in nature relatedness on restorative effects. Forty participants were randomly assigned to view either natural or urban images in a short virtual exposure after completion of a cognitively fatiguing Stroop task. EEG and ECG were continuously recorded throughout a pre/post design measuring heart rate variability, ERPs, EEG frequency band power, cognitive performance (digit span test, flanker go/no-go task), mood (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule), and state mindfulness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale). Scores on the Nature Relatedness Scale were utilized as a moderator variable. EEG results showed an increase in alpha power during both nature and urban exposures. A neural index of inhibitory control (N2 ERP amplitude) was decreased for the nature group only, possibly reflecting more efficient inhibitory attentional processing. Nature relatedness moderated environmental effects for alpha and beta power, overall RT, and positive affect, whereby effects were enhanced when exposures aligned with nature relatedness level. In conclusion, this study suggests that nature exposure can influence cortical inhibitory mechanisms involved in suppressing distractions. The influence of nature relatedness indicates that nature restoration is not necessarily universal but contingent on individuals' connection to a given environment.