Attention restoration theory

Restoration or psychological restoration in the environmental psychology field is the recovery of depleted resources which can be psychological (attention and emotions), physiological (stress) and/or social. This results from interaction with a restorative environment to change negative states to positive ones.[5][6] Psychological restoration can be described as the capability of perception of restoration, as an observer can perceive the properties of an environment that relieves the mental fatigue and stress in a person.[7]

The Kaplans describes a series of characteristics that an environment must have to be restorative. Fascination: the ability of an environment to generate awe in people; the amount of awe can give the directed attention a rest as the involuntary attention appears in its place. Being away: a feeling that can be objective or subjective in form, e.g. a person can be far away from a location or can let his or her mind go from everyday life and worries. Extension: the connection between each element found in an environment; the feeling of being able to travel through the environment in order to look for the information it provides. Compatibility: characteristics found in an environment that meet the preferences and goals of a person.[1]

The function of directed attention is to inhibit stimulus from the environment. Its effectiveness will diminish over time with constant use. The result is mental fatigue, which increases the difficulty of discriminating environmental stimulus.[8][9][10]

Attention restoration theory describes various possible human states of attention:

• 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 emotions 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 book on office work, Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister[11] report that in an office environment, workers may take 15 minutes to achieve this state of flow in their concentration, and that it can 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, and 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,[2][12] 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 in comparison with snakes and spiders, which may gain our attention out of fear.[13] The biophilia hypothesis argues that people are instinctively enthusiastic about nature, and both Fuller et al.[14] and Irvine et al.[15] suggests that the positive psychological effect increases as the perceived biodiversity of the landscape increases.

After spending some time of effortless attention with soft fascinations and removed from their day-to-day tasks, people may have a chance to reflect. This brings a "restorative" benefit which thus enables 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.[16] They experienced fewer complications from the surgery, recovered faster, and asked for weaker painkiller drugs. Similarly, natural scenes can reduce stress before an event.[17]

Women with breast cancer who walked in a park, watched birds, or tended flowers, achieved better attention after surgery.[12] Merely keeping sight of natural features improves self-discipline in inner-city girls.[18] Children in New York State were less stressed by adversity when they lived in rural areas.[19] Stress in college examinations was similarly reduced by viewing natural scenes.[20] 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,[21] leaving nurses feeling refreshed, relaxed, and energized upon return to work.

• Attention span
• Attentional retraining
• Environmental psychology
• Green exercise
• Nature deficit disorder
• Outdoor education