CHICAGO, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Using portable electronic devices, say checking social media on phone or answering emails on laptop, in green spaces just counteracts the benefits that nature offers: the restoration of brain's attention capacity, a study of the University of Illinois (UI) shows.
For the study, UI researchers randomly assigned 81 participants to four groups: those resting in a green setting with or without a laptop and those resting in a barren setting with views of parking lots, walls or buildings with or without a laptop. All of the settings had wireless internet access.
The participants took baseline attention tests, then performed 10 minutes of cognitive activities involving proofreading and subtraction. They took a second attention test, followed by a 15-minute break. During the break, those with laptops were told they could use them for leisure activities such as looking at social media, news sites, YouTube, blogs, online games, online shopping or email unrelated to work. They could not use the laptops for anything related to work.
After the break, the participants took another attention test. Only those who had rested in a green space without access to a laptop showed significant improvement in their scores on this final test. For those in the other groups, "a 15-minute break was the equivalent of no break at all," the researchers wrote.
It is not enough to go to a green space. You have to put aside your electronic devices in that space. "The space conveys no benefits if your head is in your device," said William Sullivan, a professor and the head of UI landscape architecture department.
The findings could help designers and planners create settings that pull a person's attention away from electronic devices with elements such as moving water or areas that attract animals or butterflies.
"They can help people deal with the stress of the day and mental fatigue by creating landscapes that are hard not to look at," Sullivan said. "Designers need to think about what makes people put their phones down."
In the next step, UI researchers will look at how much time in nature is needed to restore the brain's capacity to pay attention.
The findings, posted on UI's website on July 18, have been published in the journal Environment and Behavior.
