Abstract
Restoration involves individuals’ physical, psychological, and social resources, which have diminished over the years in the process of meeting the demands of everyday life. Psychological restoration can be provided by specific environments, in particular by natural environments. Studies report a restorative effect of nature on human beings, specifically in terms of the psychological recovery from attention fatigue and restored mental resources that were previously spent in activities that require attention. Two field studies in two Italian primary schools tested the hypothesized positive effect of recess time spent in a natural (vs. built) environment on pupils’ cognitive performance and their perceived restorativeness, using standardized tests. In Study 1, children’s psychological restoration was assessed by measuring sustained and selective attention, working memory, and impulse control, before and after the morning recess time. Team standardized playtime was conducted in a natural (vs. built) environment, and the perceived restorativeness was measured after each recess time. Results showed a greater increase in sustained and selective attention, concentration, and perceived restorativeness from pretest to posttest after the natural environment condition. In Study 2, the positive effect of free play recess time in a natural (vs. built) environment was assessed during the afternoon school time on sustained and selective attention and perceived restorativeness. Results showed an increase in sustained and selective attention after the natural environment condition (vs. built) and a decrease after the built environment break. Higher scores in perceived restorativeness were registered after the natural (vs. built) environment condition. Team standardized playtime and individual free play recess in a natural environment (vs. built) support pupils’ attention restoration during both morning and afternoon school times, as well as their perceived restorativeness of the recess environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of nature’s role both for the school ground design or redesign and for the organization of the school’s activities.
Highlights
Restorative environments can be defined as environments that both permit and promote restoration (Hartig, 2004)
The theory focuses on psychological recovery from attention fatigue and restored mental resources that were previously spent in activities that require directed attention (Kaplan and Talbot, 1983)
In Study 2, we introduced some changes in the method, in order to rule out potential errors or confounding effects related to the within-subjects procedure used in Study 1: firstly, the experiment was conducted in the afternoon school time, when children may need more restoration; secondly, we used a revised measurement of sustained and selective attention in order to rule out the potential learning effect of repeating the same test more than once; we chose a sample composed of older children (5th grade only) in order to capitalize on their higher ability in instruction comprehension, avoiding other potential confounding factors
Summary
Restorative environments can be defined as environments that both permit and promote restoration (Hartig, 2004). The theory focuses on psychological recovery from attention fatigue and restored mental resources that were previously spent in activities that require directed attention (Kaplan and Talbot, 1983). Situations that do not require directed attention, allow people to rest the inhibitory mechanism, which eventually leads to attention restoration (Staats, 2012). Within this realm, natural environments help in reducing the constant demands of directed attention; interesting and aesthetically pleasing aspects of natural environments capture attention without an overly high demand for cognitive processing, allowing the mental process known as psychological restoration to occur (Russell, 2012)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
