Attention Restoration Theory
Encyclopedia
Attention Restoration Theory (ART) asserts that people can concentrate
better after spending time in nature, or even looking at scenes of nature. Natural environments abound with "soft fascinations" which a person can reflect upon in "effortless attention", such as clouds moving across the sky, leaves rustling in a breeze or water bubbling over rocks in a stream. The theory was developed by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan
in the 1980s in their book The experience of nature: A psychological perspective, and has since been found by others to hold true in medical outcomes as well as intellectual task attention, as described below.
:
Tasks that require mental effort draw upon "directed attention". People must expend effort to achieve focus, to delay expression of inappropriate emotion
s or actions, and to inhibit distractions. That is, they must concentrate on the higher task, avoiding distractions. Performing the actual task also requires other knowledge and skills.
In Peopleware, a landmark book on office work, Tom DeMarco
and Tim Lister report that in an office environment, workers may take 15 minutes to achieve this state of flow
in their concentration, and that it will be destroyed in a moment by an interruption such as a telephone call.
The task may be fascinating so that it allows "effortless attention", or may have sufficient scope to sustain interaction without boredom, or may simply be more compatible with a person's interests. However, after a period of directed attention, people begin to suffer "directed attention fatigue". They become distracted, irritable, impatient. They become less effective in performing their tasks.
Attention
may be "restored" by changing to a different kind of task that uses different parts of the brain, as in the familiar idiom "a change is as good as a rest". Alternatively, exposure to natural environments and wilderness has psychological benefits including attention restoration.
Nature has an abundance of fascinating objects. "Soft fascinations" such as clouds in the sky or leaves rustling in a breeze, gain our attention relatively effortlessly and are compatible with our wants and needs. This is by comparison to snakes and spiders, which gain our attention out of fear. The Biophilia hypothesis
argues that people are instinctively enthusiastic about nature.
After spending some time of effortless attention to soft fascinations removed from their day to day tasks, people may have a chance to reflect. This brings a "restorative" benefit which allows further attention.
After medical surgery
, patients resting in rooms overlooking trees recovered better than those in rooms with only a view of a brick wall. They experienced fewer complications from the surgery, recovered faster, and asked for fewer painkiller drugs. Similarly, natural scenes can reduce stress before an event.
Women with breast cancer
who walked in a park, watched birds, or tended flowers, achieved better attention after surgery. Merely keeping sight of natural features improves self-discipline in inner-city girls. Children in New York State were less stressed by adversity, if they lived in rural areas. Stress in college examinations was similarly reduced by viewing natural scenes. Viewing scenes of urban streets and artifacts excluding nature did not achieve any stress reduction, in a similar study upon workers viewing a film about industrial accidents.
Taking breaks outside in settings that contained some nature has been shown to reduce stress, leaving nurses feeling refreshed, relaxed, and energized upon return to work.
Attention
Attention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....
better after spending time in nature, or even looking at scenes of nature. Natural environments abound with "soft fascinations" which a person can reflect upon in "effortless attention", such as clouds moving across the sky, leaves rustling in a breeze or water bubbling over rocks in a stream. The theory was developed by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan
Rachel and Stephen Kaplan
Rachel and Stephen Kaplan are renowned in the field of environmental psychology. Professors of psychology at the University of Michigan, the Kaplans are known for their research on the effect of nature on people’s relationships and health...
in the 1980s in their book The experience of nature: A psychological perspective, and has since been found by others to hold true in medical outcomes as well as intellectual task attention, as described below.
Directed attention
Attention Restoration Theory describes a person as being in several states of attentionAttention
Attention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....
:
- Directed attention
- Directed attention fatigue
- Effortless attention
- Restored attention
Tasks that require mental effort draw upon "directed attention". People must expend effort to achieve focus, to delay expression of inappropriate emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
s or actions, and to inhibit distractions. That is, they must concentrate on the higher task, avoiding distractions. Performing the actual task also requires other knowledge and skills.
In Peopleware, a landmark book on office work, Tom DeMarco
Tom DeMarco
Tom DeMarco is an American software engineer, author, teacher and speaker on software engineering topics. He is known as one of the developers of Structured analysis in the 1980s.- Biography :...
and Tim Lister report that in an office environment, workers may take 15 minutes to achieve this state of flow
Flow (psychology)
Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of...
in their concentration, and that it will be destroyed in a moment by an interruption such as a telephone call.
The task may be fascinating so that it allows "effortless attention", or may have sufficient scope to sustain interaction without boredom, or may simply be more compatible with a person's interests. However, after a period of directed attention, people begin to suffer "directed attention fatigue". They become distracted, irritable, impatient. They become less effective in performing their tasks.
Attention
Attention
Attention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....
may be "restored" by changing to a different kind of task that uses different parts of the brain, as in the familiar idiom "a change is as good as a rest". Alternatively, exposure to natural environments and wilderness has psychological benefits including attention restoration.
Nature has an abundance of fascinating objects. "Soft fascinations" such as clouds in the sky or leaves rustling in a breeze, gain our attention relatively effortlessly and are compatible with our wants and needs. This is by comparison to snakes and spiders, which gain our attention out of fear. The Biophilia hypothesis
Biophilia Hypothesis
The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book entitled Biophilia.- Love of living systems :...
argues that people are instinctively enthusiastic about nature.
After spending some time of effortless attention to soft fascinations removed from their day to day tasks, people may have a chance to reflect. This brings a "restorative" benefit which allows further attention.
Stress reduction
Nature can help reduce a person's stress, as well as improve attention.After medical surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, patients resting in rooms overlooking trees recovered better than those in rooms with only a view of a brick wall. They experienced fewer complications from the surgery, recovered faster, and asked for fewer painkiller drugs. Similarly, natural scenes can reduce stress before an event.
Women with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
who walked in a park, watched birds, or tended flowers, achieved better attention after surgery. Merely keeping sight of natural features improves self-discipline in inner-city girls. Children in New York State were less stressed by adversity, if they lived in rural areas. Stress in college examinations was similarly reduced by viewing natural scenes. Viewing scenes of urban streets and artifacts excluding nature did not achieve any stress reduction, in a similar study upon workers viewing a film about industrial accidents.
Taking breaks outside in settings that contained some nature has been shown to reduce stress, leaving nurses feeling refreshed, relaxed, and energized upon return to work.
See also
- AttentionAttentionAttention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....
- Attention spanAttention spanAttention span is the amount of time that a person can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted. Most educators and psychologists agree that the ability to focus one's attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one's goals....
- Attentional retrainingAttentional RetrainingAttentional retraining is the retraining of automatic attentional processes. The method of retraining varies but has typically employed computerized training programs...
- Biophilia hypothesisBiophilia HypothesisThe biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book entitled Biophilia.- Love of living systems :...
- Environmental psychologyEnvironmental psychologyEnvironmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field focused on the interplay between humans and their surroundings. The field defines the term environment broadly, encompassing natural environments, social settings, built environments, learning environments, and informational environments...
- Green exerciseGreen exerciseGreen exercise refers to physical exercise undertaken in relatively natural environments. Physical exercise is well known to provide health benefits. There is also good evidence that viewing and being in natural environments has calming and positive mood effects...
- Nature deficit disorderNature deficit disorderNature Deficit Disorder, a term coined by Richard Louv in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods, refers to the alleged trend that children are spending less time outdoors, resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems...
- Outdoor educationOutdoor educationOutdoor education usually refers to organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges in the form of outdoor activities such as hiking,...
- Rachel and Stephen KaplanRachel and Stephen KaplanRachel and Stephen Kaplan are renowned in the field of environmental psychology. Professors of psychology at the University of Michigan, the Kaplans are known for their research on the effect of nature on people’s relationships and health...