The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation duration
Although research has provided prodigious evidence in support of the cognitive benefits that natural settings have over urban settings, all nature is not equal. Within nature, natural settings that contain mystery are often among the most preferred nature scenes. With the prospect of acquiring new i...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01360/full |
| _version_ | 1819264462608138240 |
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| author | Andrew Martin Szolosi Jason M. Watson Edward J. Ruddell |
| author_facet | Andrew Martin Szolosi Jason M. Watson Edward J. Ruddell |
| author_sort | Andrew Martin Szolosi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Although research has provided prodigious evidence in support of the cognitive benefits that natural settings have over urban settings, all nature is not equal. Within nature, natural settings that contain mystery are often among the most preferred nature scenes. With the prospect of acquiring new information, scenes of this type could more effectively elicit a person’s sense of fascination, enabling that person to rest the more effortful forms of attention. The present study examined the direct cognitive benefits that mystery in nature has on attention. Settings of this sort presumably evoke a form of attention that is undemanding or effortless. In order to investigate that notion, participants (n=144) completed a Recognition Memory Task (RMT) that evaluated recognition performance based on the presence of mystery and presentation duration (300 ms, 1 sec, 5 sec, and 10 sec). Results revealed that with additional viewing time, images perceived high in mystery achieved greater improvements in recognition performance when compared to those images perceived low in mystery. Tests for mediation showed that the effect mystery had on recognition performance occurred through perceptions of fascination. Implications of these and other findings are discussed in the context of Attention Restoration Theory. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T20:29:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba6d9599cc864fc88865655b2fc72705 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T20:29:52Z |
| publishDate | 2014-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba6d9599cc864fc88865655b2fc727052022-12-21T17:32:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782014-11-01510.3389/fpsyg.2014.0136093388The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation durationAndrew Martin Szolosi0Jason M. Watson1Edward J. Ruddell2Ohio UniversityUniversity of UtahUniversity of UtahAlthough research has provided prodigious evidence in support of the cognitive benefits that natural settings have over urban settings, all nature is not equal. Within nature, natural settings that contain mystery are often among the most preferred nature scenes. With the prospect of acquiring new information, scenes of this type could more effectively elicit a person’s sense of fascination, enabling that person to rest the more effortful forms of attention. The present study examined the direct cognitive benefits that mystery in nature has on attention. Settings of this sort presumably evoke a form of attention that is undemanding or effortless. In order to investigate that notion, participants (n=144) completed a Recognition Memory Task (RMT) that evaluated recognition performance based on the presence of mystery and presentation duration (300 ms, 1 sec, 5 sec, and 10 sec). Results revealed that with additional viewing time, images perceived high in mystery achieved greater improvements in recognition performance when compared to those images perceived low in mystery. Tests for mediation showed that the effect mystery had on recognition performance occurred through perceptions of fascination. Implications of these and other findings are discussed in the context of Attention Restoration Theory.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01360/fullrecognition memorymysteryAttention Restoration Theoryfascinationmediation testing |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Martin Szolosi Jason M. Watson Edward J. Ruddell The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation duration Frontiers in Psychology recognition memory mystery Attention Restoration Theory fascination mediation testing |
| title | The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation duration |
| title_full | The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation duration |
| title_fullStr | The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation duration |
| title_full_unstemmed | The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation duration |
| title_short | The benefits of mystery in nature on attention: Assessing the impacts of presentation duration |
| title_sort | benefits of mystery in nature on attention assessing the impacts of presentation duration |
| topic | recognition memory mystery Attention Restoration Theory fascination mediation testing |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01360/full |
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