Abstract
This study was aimed to clarify the physiological effects of visual stimulation using forest imagery on activity of the brain and autonomic nervous system. Seventeen female university students (mean age, 21.1 ± 1.0 years) participated in the study. As an indicator of brain activity, oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentrations were measured in the left and right prefrontal cortex using near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy. Heart rate variability (HRV) was used as an indicator of autonomic nervous activity. The high-frequency (HF) component of HRV, which reflected parasympathetic nervous activity, and the ratio of low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency components (LF/HF), which reflected sympathetic nervous activity, were measured. Forest and city (control) images were used as visual stimuli using a large plasma display window. After sitting at rest viewing a gray background for 60 s, participants viewed two images for 90 s. During rest and visual stimulation, HRV and oxy-Hb concentration in the prefrontal cortex were continuously measured. Immediately thereafter, subjective evaluation of feelings was performed using a modified semantic differential (SD) method. The results showed that visual stimulation with forest imagery induced (1) a significant decrease in oxy-Hb concentrations in the right prefrontal cortex and (2) a significant increase in perceptions of feeling “comfortable,” “relaxed,” and “natural.”
Highlights
More than half of the global population currently live in urban environments [1], and 66% of individuals are expected to live in urban areas by the year 2050 [2]
We investigated the physiological effects of visual stimulation with forest imagery on left and right prefrontal cortex activity assessed using near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy and on autonomic nervous activity assessed using heart rate variability
DiscussionThis study examined the physiological effects of visual stimulation with forest imagery on left and right prefrontal cortex activity assessed using Time-Resolved Spectroscopy (TRS) and on autonomic nervous activity assessed
Summary
More than half of the global population currently live in urban environments [1], and 66% of individuals are expected to live in urban areas by the year 2050 [2]. Urbanization has led to improvements in many areas such as housing, employment, education, equality, quality of living environment, social support, and health services [3], changes occurring over a very short period have been very drastic from an evolutionary perspective. Recent research has shown that city dwellers are constantly exposed to stressors and that urban living is associated with an increased risk of health problems [4,5,6,7]. As a result of such stressful situations in modern society, effective methods for coping with stress and for relaxation are receiving increasing attention. One such method is interaction with nature, because nature-based experiences are known to have a relaxing effect.
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