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The influence of our surroundings on mental processes is a growing area of interest in psychology and architecture research. Understanding how to optimize spaces to support mental well-being and productivity is crucial. This research tested the hypothesis that nature enhances aesthetic appreciation, creativity, executive functioning, and mood by testing participants in a natural forest, a biophilic (nature-inspired) room, and a control laboratory room. The forest was appreciated aesthetically (as indicated by fascination, and hominess) the most, followed by the biophilic room and the control room. The biophilic room scored the highest in coherence compared to the forest and the control room. Divergent thinking was significantly higher in the nature condition compared to the biophilic room and the control room. Convergent thinking , working memory, attention, and delay discounting did not differ significantly between conditions. Participants’ negative affect decreased after spending time in the control room or the biophilic room. By examining cognition, mood, and aesthetic appreciation in immersive real-world environments, this work provides a deeper understanding of how environmental settings affect mental processes, enriching knowledge from previous research focused on 2-dimensional images.
Holzman et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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