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Ann.N.Y. Acad.Sci.ISSN0077-8923

ANNALSOF THENEWYORK ACADEMYOFSCIENCES

Issue:TheYear inEcologyandConservationBiology

Theimpactsof natureexperience onhuman cognitive

functionand mentalhealth

GregoryN.Bratman,

1

J.Pa ulHamilton,

2 andGretchenC .Daily 3 1 EmmettInterdisciplinar yPrograminEnvironmentandResour ces,StanfordUniversity,Stanfor d,California. 2

Departmentof

Psychology,StanfordUniversity ,Stanford,California. 3 DepartmentofBiology,Stanfor dUniversity ,Stanford,California

Addressforcorrespondence:Gr egoryN .Bratman,EmmettInterdisciplinary PrograminEnvironmentandResour ces,473Via

Ortega,Suite226, StanfordUniversity,Stanfor d,CA94305. gbratman@stanford.edu Scholarsspanningavariet yofdisciplineshavestudie dth ewaysinwhichcontactw ithnatu ralenvironmentsmay impacthumanwell-bei ng.Wereview theeffectsofsuchnatureexperienceo nhuman cognitivefunctiona ndmental

health,synthesizingwo rkfromenvironmentalpsychology,urbanpl anning,theme dicallitera ture,andlandscape

tonat urehasbeenconsider ed,andth erolethatindi viduals'preferencesfornaturemayp layinthe impactoft he

environmentonpsychologicalfunctio ning.D rawingfromthehighlyproductivebutd isparateprogramsofresearch

inthis area,weconcl udebyproposinga system ofcategorizationfordiff erentt ypesofnatureexperience.W eal so

outlinek eyquestionsforf uturework,includingfurther inquiryintowhic helementsoft henaturalenvironment

mayhaveimpa ctsoncogn itivefunctionandme ntalhea lth;whatthemosteffectivetyp e,duration,andfreque ncyof

contactmaybe;andwhatt hepossibl eneuralmec hanismsar ethatcoul dberespo nsibleforthedocumentede ffects.

Keywords:ecosystemservices;nature experiences;psychology;cognitivef unction;mentalhealth

Introduction

Forhun dredsofyearsandacrossma nycult ures

ofthew orld,influential traditionsinscience,phi- losophy,poetry,andr eligionhaveemphasizedthe rolethatna tureplaysinp rovidingfeelingsof well- being.Inthemoderne raofsc ientificen terprise, alar gebodyofwork hasdemonstr atedth eimpor- thenatura lenvironmentforsecuri tyinthesupply offood,w ater ,energy,climatestability, andother materialingredientsofwel l-being.Andnow,inthe faceofintensifying human impactsonthenatural environment - perhapsmostvisibleintheformof landconversi on,urbansprawl,andpollutionofair andwater - researchershavebeguntodocumentthe fromurbanen vironmentshavein processingstress whencompar edtotheirruralcounterpa rts. 1

Beliefsabout theroleofnature experienc ein

mentalhealthha ve playedaroleinthe civicand politicaldiscussionss urrounding conservationfor alon gtime.Int heUnitedStates ,forex ample, writerssuchasJohnMu irandtheori ginato rsof theW ildernessActdiscussednature' scontribu- tionstomentalhe althsp ecifically,albeitq ualita- tively. 2

Thisdiscourse extendswe llbeyond"wilder-

ness."Intheirworko nthehi storyofhealing gardensinhospitalsetti ngs,M arcusandBarnes tracetheinco rporation ofrestorativegardensand naturalareasininfirmar iesbacktotheMiddle ingsofSt.Ber nardthatsupport thehealingef- fectsofthesenatur alspaces. 3

Theauthor sfollow

these"c ourtyardtraditions"inhospitalsthrough theEnglish ,German,andFrenchdes ignsofthe

1600s-1800s.The benefitsofnaturalar easwer e

doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06400.x

118Ann.N.Y. Acad.Sci.1249(2012)118-136

c!

2012NewY orkA cademyofSciences.

Bratmanetal.Natureexperience,cognitivefunction, andmentalhealth thoughttospanphysiolo gical andmentalasp ects ofwe ll-being.Remnantsofthesetraditionscan stillbefound intheinclusionofKur("courseof treatment"involvingnature walks,herbalreme- dies,andm udbaths)in mainstreamGerman healthcare. 4,5 havebeenwilli ngtoinvestr esourcesinaestheti cally forthism ayvar yfromadisplayofpow erandco n- troloverna ture(asinthe gardensofVersaill es)to ase nseofpeacean denlig htenmentthatthe seland- scapescreat einthemindofthelandow ner. 6 Mod- ernenvir onmentaleconomicsaddressesthewaysin whichpeoplear ewillingtopayforac cesstonat ural landscapes,usingtrav elco stmethods,contingent valuation,andhedonicstudiesofp ropertyv alues forplaces nearertoit. 7-13

Butacentral questionr e-

mains:whyaresomepeo plewillin gtopaymorefor contactwith(orviews of)nature?

Today,mostpeople areexperien cingsignificantly

totheirparents 'generation. Onestudyestimates thatthetypi calAmeric annowspendsnearly90% ofhis orherlifew ithinb uildi ngs. 14

Thistr endper-

meatesmostareas ofthe world.Many cultureswith strongtraditionaltiestotheir surroundingnatural environshavefoundthemselvesunder theassault ofmodernization, development,and environmen- tald egradation,whichhavebeentiedconc lusively toanincreasein feelings ofisolationanddepr es- sionwithin thesecommunities. 15-18

Aswem ove

intocitiesandindoorsatanunpr ecedentedrate,we arefacedwi tharapiddisco nnectionfromthenatu- aboutreper cussionsforpsychologicalwel l-being.

Approachto therevie w

Here,wereviewt heeffe ctsofnatureexperie nceon

humancognitiv efunctionandmentalhealth,s yn- thesizingworkfromenvironmen talpsycholog y,ur- banplanning ,medicine,andlandscapeaesthetics.

Wepr ovideanoverviewofthe prevai lingexplana-

torytheories oftheseeffects,thewaysi nwhiche x- posuretonatur eitselfhasbeenc onsidered,andthe initsi mpactonps ychologicalfunctio ning.S pecifi- effectsofnatureexpe rienc eoncognitivefuncti on andmenta lhealth.Thefirsttwo,a ttentionrestora- tiontheory andstress reductiontheor y,stemfrom ual,whilethe third,anidea thathasit srootsinthe traditionsofsocialpsycholog y,r elatest otheme- diatingeffectsofexpli citlyheldpreferenc esabou t nature.

Wein cludestudiesthatempl oyaparticularsetof

toolsandapproa ches(tradi tionalpsychologytests, surveys,andquestionnaires)toquantifyi mpacts ofnature exper ienceonspecificaspectsofcogni- tivefunctio nand/ormentalhealth( attention,con- centration,memory,impulseinhib ition,stress,and mood).Usinga"snowba ll"method,we beg anwith theworkof StephenandRa chelKa planthatplayed talpsychol ogy 19 aswe llastheworkofRoger Ul- richontheme asurem entofstres sinindividuals asthey respondtodiffere ntenvironments. 20 From thesegr oundbreakingandfoundationalstudies,we workedforwardby compilingtheliteratur ethat buildsonthem.Ourse archme thodsincludedm in- ingther efere ncesofthesesubsequentstudiesand ofourr eview tothebenefitsthatfitunderthethe- oriesdevelopedf romthesetwostrandsofthought , alongw iththeadditionalexplora tionofthe ways inwhich preferencesf ornaturemayormaynot chologyliterature,to uchingoccasionallyonstudies rentlyexciting,int erdisciplinaryworkunderwayo n relevantdecision-making challenges. 21,22

Nature

Ouranalysis mustbeginw ithaclearnotionof

nature.Intheirbiop hiliahypothesis,W ilsonand

Kellertclaimthatwe ,ashumanbeings ,haveanin-

natelovefor thenaturalworld,univ ersally feltby all,andresultingat leastin partfrom ourgenetic make-upandevolutionary history. 23

Butwhatdo

wemeanwhenw espeako fthenaturalw orld,or nature?Theseare clearlysubjective terms.Studies "wilderness"toconsistentlyandgener allyapplyto areaswithoutdisce rniblehumaninfluenc e.

19,24,25

Ann.N.Y. Acad.Sci.1249(2012)118-136

c!

2012NewY orkA cademyofSciences.119

Natureexperience,cognitivefunction,and mentalhealth Bratmanetal.

But"wildern ess"isonlyonecategoryfromabroa d

spectrumofgradients,andthedegr eeoramount of"natur e"thatalandscapecontainscanbe cul- turallyorpersonallydefined.Additional ly,cultures andindivi dualsdifferwithrespecttowhatareco n- sideredtobethe attractive andnaturalco mponents oflandscapes. 26

Thedefinition ofwhatmakes anenvironment

"natural"changesacrosstime ,space,andtheindi- dependentandconstantfor m. 27,28

Wecann otlook

toscie nceforanimpartialorco nsistent answert o thisquestion. "Objectiv e"classificationsfromsatel- litedatahav ebeensho wntodifferfrom individu- als'assessmentsofenv ironmental qualitiesand de- scriptionsofareasinthesameplace. 29

Philosophical

debatesovertheh umandefinitionandrepresenta- summaryofthemisb eyond thesco peo fthispaper, butwe brieflydiscusssomek eyissuesbelow.

Moststudie sincludedinthisrevie wusecompar-

ofindi vidualswithinanother,whereoneenvi ron- mentisclearly more "natura l,"withinthecontex t ofthes tudy(e.g. ,tree-linedcit ystreetsvs.trails throughanaturepre serve). Therankingof sitesquotesdbs_dbs21.pdfusesText_27

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