February 17, 2010 - 10:10 AM

A Memory Boost from Nature

Title: "Aspen Grove"

Locatiion: White River National Forest, Colorado

How would you like a 20% increase in your ability to remember?  For the most part my mind is a steel trap, but occasionally one or two facts are momentarily misplaced.  (I can hear my kids snickering & sputtering across the room.  I get no respect.)  OK, so I could use a 20% boost.  How do I sign up?

Professor John Jonides and graduate student Marc Berman published a fascinating study looking at how taking a walk effects memory.  Participants were given memory and attention tests prior to a walk.  When they went for a walk in an urban setting, there was no improvement in the post walk tests of memory and attention.  However, when they walked in nature (an arboretum), their post walk assessments showed a 20% increase in memory and attention.

What was particularly surprising was that the effect was still measured if the participants just looked at pictures of nature.  Looking at pictures of urban settings resulted in no cognitive improvement.

The results support the Attention Restoration Theory referred to in earlier posts.  It says that our minds can be attentive in essentially two ways.  One is a focused, direct attention on something we must pay attention to (work, school lecture, etc)  The other is an involuntary attention where your mind investigates something merely because it finds it interesting.  Long periods of directed attention result in fatigue, whereas involuntary attention is restorative.  As Mark Berman noted, “You don’t hear very many people say, ‘Boy, I really got tired out looking at that waterfall’”.

For a more detailed synopsis of the research, there is a very good article by Jack Penland on the ScienCentral website.

The original research was published in the journal Psychological Science, December, 2008.

Enjoy the articles!  Now I’m going to go for a walk, if I can find my coat!