by the University of Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Go outside. It helps improve your focus– even when it’s cold outside.
University of Michigan psychology research in the December issue of Psychological Science explored the cognitive benefits of interacting with nature and found that walking in a park, no matter whether it’s warm outside or a cold winter’s day, or even viewing pictures of nature can help improve memory and attention.
U-M psychology researchers Marc Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan found memory performance and attention spans improved by 20 percent after people spent an hour interacting with nature by simply going for a walk in a park.
Researchers think the findings could have broader impacts in terms of helping people who may be suffering from mental fatigue. Interacting with nature has also been shown to improve cancer patient recovery time, memory and attention as well.
“Interacting with nature can have similar effects as meditating,’’ Berman said.
In addition, “People don’t have to enjoy the walk to get the benefi ts. We found the same benefi ts when it was 80 degrees and sunny over the summer as when the temperatures dropped to 25 degrees in January. The only difference was that participants enjoyed the walks more in the spring and summer than in the dead of winter.”
The distractions and bustle of the city streets from traffi c lights, to people crossing streets and coming out of buildings all stimulate people but seem to eat up attention and memory while the peaceful ease of nature seems to have a calming, regenerative effect on people.
Berman has worked closely with U-M psychology researcher Stephen Kaplan, who has developed a theory that if people interact with nature, it allows them to rest and deliberate and aids their cognitive processes.
Kaplan and his wife, Rachel, also a psychology researcher, argue that people are far more likely to be satisfied with their lives when their environment supports three basic needs: the ability to understand and explore, to feel they make a difference, and to feel competent and effective. Berman decided to test that theory by sending study participants on walking routes around Ann Arbor.
Participants walked on an urban route down Huron avenue and also on a route in U-M’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, taking in nature.
When participants walked in the Arboretum they improved their shortterm memory by 20 percent, but showed no improvements when walking down Huron avenue.
The researchers also tested the same theory by having subjects sit inside and look at pictures of either downtown scenes or nature scenes and again the results were the same: when looking at photos of nature memory and attention scores improved by about 20 percent, but not when viewing the urban pictures.
For more on Berman, visit: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/psych/people/directory/profiles/?id=bermanm.
For more on the U-M Psychology Department, visit: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/psych/flash.asp.
For more on the journal Psychological Science, visit: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/.
