The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature

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Psychological Science
1. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x Psychological
Science December 2008 vol. 19 no. 12 1207-1212
Psychological Sciencepss.sagepub.com
1. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x Psychological
Science December 2008 vol. 19 no. 12 1207-1212

The Cognitive Benefits

Interacting With Nature

of

Marc G. Berman1, 2,
John Jonides1 and
Stephen Kaplan1, 3
+ Author Affiliations
+ Author Affiliations
Marc G. Berman, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan,
530 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI 481091043, e-mail:
bermanm@umich.edu.

Abstract
We compare the restorative effects on cognitive functioning of
interactions with natural versus urban environments. Attention
restoration theory (ART) provides an analysis of the kinds of
environments that lead to improvements in directed-attention abilities.
Nature, which is filled with intriguing stimuli, modestly grabs attention
in a bottom-up fashion, allowing top-down directed-attention abilities a
chance to replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban environments
are filled with stimulation that captures attention dramatically and
additionally requires directed attention (e.g., to avoid being hit by a
car), making them less restorative. We present two experiments that
show that walking in nature or viewing pictures of nature can improve
directed-attention abilities as measured with a backwards digit-span
task and the Attention Network Task, thus validating attention
restoration theory.

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Psychological
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The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature

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