First, prior studies have demonstrated widespread associations between noise levels and health. As such, the present experiment tests whether auditory representations of nature confer similar benefits to directed-attention functioning.īeyond ART, two broad research findings support potential cognitive benefits from experiencing nature sounds. However, the focus on visual depictions of nature in the ART literature has resulted in a relative paucity of research on other modalities, such as audition. The fact that simply viewing pictures of nature environments can improve performance on tasks requiring directed attention (Berman et al., 2008) suggests that nature, in part, may improve performance through the visual features that differentiate natural and urban scenes (see Berman et al., 2014), which may engage attentional mechanisms in a manner that restores directed attention. One prominent account of how nature may improve aspects of cognition is attention restoration theory (ART), which posits that nature environments are particularly well-suited for reducing demands on the endogenous attention system, thereby allowing subsequent restoration of attentional functioning (e.g., Kaplan, 1995).
Even brief interventions in which participants take a walk through nature or view nature images on a computer screen have been shown to improve the functioning of directed attention relative to interventions in which participants are exposed to more urban environments (Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2008). For example, the extent of available green space has been positively associated with the development of executive functions in children, even after controlling for factors such as socioeconomic status (Dadvand et al., 2015). The psychological benefits of interacting with nature have been discussed for well over a century (e.g., Olmsted, 1993), with research over the past few decades assessing how interactions with nature specifically may benefit cognition and cognitive development (e.g., Bratman, Hamilton, & Daily, 2012). These results provide initial evidence that brief experiences with natural sounds can improve directed attention functioning in a single experimental session. Natural sounds did not differentially change positive or negative affect, despite these sounds being aesthetically preferred to urban sounds. Urban soundscapes did not systematically affect performance either adversely or beneficially.
Relative to participants who were exposed to urban soundscapes, we observed significant improvements in cognitive performance for individuals exposed to nature. Participants completed these cognitive measures and an affective questionnaire before and after listening to and aesthetically judging either natural or urban soundscapes (between-participants). To assess directed attention, we created a composite measure consisting of a backward digit span task and a dual n-back task. In the present experiment, we assessed whether nature-related cognitive benefits extended to auditory presentations of nature, a topic that has been understudied. Attention restoration theory (ART) posits that stimuli found in nature may restore directed attention functioning by reducing demands on the endogenous attention system.
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