Attention Fatigue Research Articles

Mfdd: Multi-scale attention fatigue and distracted driving detector based on facial features

Mfdd: Multi-scale attention fatigue and distracted driving detector based on facial features

Forests for Health Promotion: Future Developments of Salutogenic Properties in Managed Boreal Forests

Visits to forests can improve human health and well-being through various mechanisms. They can support the immune system, promote physical activity, and restore stress and attention fatigue. Questions remain about how perceived qualities in forests important to support such salutogenic, i.e., health-promoting, benefits can be represented in forest simulation tools to allow quantitative analyses, e.g., long-term projections or trade-off analyses with other forest functions, such as biodiversity conservation, wood production, etc. Questions also remain about how different forest management regimes might impact such perceived qualities in forests. Here, we defined three types of salutogenic forest characteristics (SFCs), referred to as Deep, Spacious, and Mixed forest characteristics, respectively. We did so by using the perceived sensory dimension (PSD) model, which describes and interrelates more fundamental perceived qualities of recreational outdoor environments that are important to support people’s health and well-being. We identified proxy variables for the selected PSD models in boreal forest stands and compared the effect of five different management regimes on both individual PSD models and the derived SFCs when projecting a forest landscape 100 years into the future. Our results suggest combinations of protection (set-aside) and variations of continuous cover forestry as the most promising strategies to achieve these salutogenic properties in the long-term future. Depending on the SFC in focus and the specific management regime used, between 20% and 50% of the landscape could support associated properties in the long term (100 years). This might impact how forests should be managed when salutogenic outcomes are considered alongside, e.g., wood production and other forest contributions.

Effect of biophilic shopping environments featuring Christmas trees on perceived attentional and mental fatigue: A national study

The Mayo Clinic and the American Psychiatric Association recognize that many people experience stress around the holidays. For example, households with children, people living alone, etc. during the Christmas holiday might be feeling mentally fatigued or maybe they simply want to improve their mental state. We aimed to investigate the extent to which Christmas tree shopping environments that include real trees in the outdoors (a common type of biophilic store design) provide opportunities to help them recover from mental and attentional fatigue (derived from Attention Restoration Theory) when compared to artificial indoor tree displays. A nationwide online survey (n=1208, 45 questions, and two video evaluations) was used to compare real-time and post video evaluations of outdoor displays of real Christmas trees with indoor displays of artificial Christmas trees using two measures of overall perceived restorative quality. The key finding indicates that real/outdoor trees have a higher perceived restorative quality (real-time video evaluation p <.05 and post-video evaluation p <.001). Although the fascination ratings for artificial/indoor tree ratings were significantly higher (p <.01), it had a much weaker effect than real trees (less than half) on overall restorative quality. That is, although indoor artificial trees were more fascinating, it appears to be the kind of “hard” fascination that does not contribute nearly as much to restoration when compared to the “softer” fascination associated with real trees. The positive effect of coherence (e.g., orderly tree displays) and scope (e.g., perception of depth and spaciousness) on overall restorative quality that was perceived by respondents was greater for real/outdoor tree displays. These larger effects were measured in a multivariate multiple regression model but also identified in most of the peak restorative moments during the video evaluation.

Effective Recreational Activities in Urban Green Spaces for Mental Health of Scientific Researchers

Scientific researchers are known for their demanding intellectual efforts and are particularly susceptible to mental health disorders. Urban green spaces (UGSs) are beneficial for people’s mental health, yet there is limited research on what types of UGSs and activities are effective for improving researchers’ mental health. Here, we investigate if researchers’ mental health can be enhanced by visiting affiliated green spaces, pocket parks, comprehensive parks, and coastal beaches. The research hypothesis was that the natural and social pathways of recreational ecosystem services jointly reduce researchers’ mental stress and attentional fatigue. The results suggest that nature contact, nature connectedness, and social interaction directly or indirectly have positive impacts on scientific researchers’ mental health. Both nature connectedness and social interaction serve as crucial mediating variables between nature contact and mental health. In terms of direct impact, high-frequency recreational activities in small UGSs with high accessibility, markedly relieve stress, whereas visit frequency in large UGSs with low accessibility has a limited effect on long-term mental stress relief. In terms of indirect impact, small UGSs alleviate attentional fatigue through the mediation of nature connectedness, while large UGSs mainly mitigate mental stress and attentional fatigue through the mediation of social interaction. This study provides a natural-social integrated perspective on recreational ecosystem services to enhance the well-being of scientific researchers. We provide recommendations for researchers to mitigate work-related stress and fatigue and to offer information useful for decision-making support to create a healthy environment for scientific researchers.

Elucidating and Expanding the Restorative Theory Framework to Comprehend Influential Factors Supporting Ageing-in-Place: A Scoping Review.

Exposure to stress and attention fatigue resulting from changes in capabilities and residing in environments that do not align with individual needs can adversely impact older adults' mental health and complicate ageing-in-place. Research into the psychological restoration process can help assist in alleviating these issues. Existing research on restoration perspectives has predominantly centred on university students and lacks comprehensive insights into older adults. Consequently, this study seeks to acquire a deeper understanding of the restorative theory framework within the context of ageing populations. We identified and analysed thirty-nine papers on the restoration process of older adults employing the scoping review method. Our findings indicate that adjustments to the general restorative theory framework are imperative for ageing populations. By incorporating additional features-such as being with and familiarity-the framework can more effectively support the development of age-inclusive neighbourhoods that enhance the mental health of the older population and facilitate healthy ageing-in-place. While more in-depth research is required on the restoration process of older adults, this research marks the initial in adapting the general framework to ageing populations. Furthermore, insight is given into how the adapted framework can contribute to help address the challenges of global ageing and support ageing-in-place.

Impacts of urban green infrastructure on attentional functioning: insights from an fMRI study.

Multiple studies using various measures, technologies, and participant groups have found that exposure to urban green infrastructure can help alleviate the daily attentional fatigue that human experience. Although we have made significant progress in understanding the effects of exposure to urban green infrastructure on attention restoration, two important gaps in our knowledge remain. First, we do not fully understand the neural processes underlying attention restoration that exposure to urban green infrastructure elicits. Second, we are largely unaware of how typical patterns of urban green infrastructure, such as combinations of trees and bioswales, affect recovery from attentional fatigue. This knowledge is crucial to guide the design and management of urban landscapes that effectively facilitate attention restoration. To address these gaps in our knowledge, we conducted a controlled experiment in which 43 participants were randomly assigned to one of three video treatment categories: no green infrastructure (No GI), trees, or trees and bioswales. We assessed attentional functioning using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and the Sustained Attention Response Task (SART). Participants exposed to urban settings with trees exhibited improved top-down attentional functioning, as evidenced by both fMRI and SART results. Those exposed to urban settings with trees and bioswales demonstrated some attention-restorative neural activity, but without significant improvements in SART performance. Conversely, participants exposed to videos of urban environments without green infrastructure displayed increased neural vigilance, suggesting a lack of attention restoration, accompanied by reduced SART performance. These consistent findings offer empirical support for the Attention Restoration Theory, highlighting the effectiveness of tree exposure in enhancing attentional functioning. Future research should investigate the potential impact of bioswales on attention restoration.

Research on the psychologically restorative effects of campus common spaces from the perspective of health.

Contemporary college students are suffering from increasingly serious psychological health problems, such as attention fatigue, psychological stress and negative emotions. A growing body of evidence has revealed that restorative environment design is conducive to psychological health. As the main choice of venue for students' daily activities, campus common spaces are supposed to be restorative to some extent. Given the above, the author studied 22 common spaces in the South China University of Technology (SCUT) Wushan Campus from the perspective of college students' behavioral patterns based on theories pertaining to restorative environments, then constructed a structural equation model (SEM) analyzing the psychologically restorative effects exerted by the characteristics of campus common spaces upon college students through a scale design and questionnaire survey. With the analysis of 478 valid questionnaires, the research found that the characteristics of campus common spaces with psychologically restorative effects mainly comprise the architectural environment, landscape environment, rest facilities and activity facilities. Among them, the characteristics of activity facilities and the landscape environment have the greatest impact on psychologically restorative effects, accounting for 33 and 30% of the total effects, respectively; they are followed by those of the architectural environment, which accounts for 21% of the total effects; those of the rest facilities have the least impact, accounting for 16% of the total effects. The research also found that the characteristics of campus common spaces can both directly influence college students' psychological recovery and produce psychologically restorative effects mediated by college students' behavioral patterns. The mediation effect of college students' behavioral patterns accounts for approximately 41% of the total effect of psychological restoration, in which the psychologically restorative effect of dynamic exercise behaviors is 2.5 times that of static leisure behaviors. The research reveals how the characteristics of campus common spaces promote the psychological restoration of college students, and it provides inspiration for healthy environment design in campus common spaces.

Attention and Emotion Recovery Effects of Urban Parks during COVID-19—Psychological Symptoms as Moderators

Previous research that compared the restorative effects of natural settings with poor-quality urban settings may have exaggerated the restorative benefits of greenspace. Few studies have been conducted to examine the restorative benefits of green streets and other types of park landscapes on attention and emotion. In addition, it is not clear how negative psychological symptoms (e.g., stress, depression) affect natural’s restorative benefits, especially as the current COVID-19 pandemic has added to people’s psychological burden. In this study, 125 participants were randomly assigned to view one of five videos (green street, lawn, plaza, forest, waterside) for a break after completing an emotion and attention fatigue induction task. Attention function and emotion were measured using the backward digit span test and the Self-Assessment Manikin scale. Stress and depressive symptoms experienced over the last month were measured using the Perceived Stress Scale(PSS-10) and the Patient Health Questionnaire(PHQ-9). Our results indicate that the four park settings showed significant attention function recovery and valence improvement compared to the green streets, while subjects’ arousal changed only over time. Hardscapes (plazas) could provide the same attentional and emotional restorative benefits as natural landscapes (forests, watersides, lawns). In addition, we also found that the mood-improving benefits of natural environments may decrease with increasing depressive symptoms, although chronic stress symptoms did not show the same trend.

The Impact of Nature Imagery and Mystery on Attention Restoration

The factors contributing to urbanization, such as population growth and the development of mega-cities, have increased environmental stressors on top of everyday stressors, resulting in information overload. This has led to the increasing incidence of direct attentional fatigue, which causes stress and mental fatigue. The attention restoration theory centres on the environment’s capacity to restore attentional deficits and suggests that there are certain qualities in the environment that restore attention, which leads to improvements in our physical, mental, and social well-being. An environment can be restorative through the activation of involuntary attention, which limits the need for directed attention. This study explored for effects of natural, built, and mixed environment types and levels of mystery on attention restoration in university undergraduates. Perceived and actual levels of attention restoration were measured using a perceived restoration scale (PRS) and the digit symbol substitution task (DSST), respectively. A total of 101 participants viewed a restorative image followed by the completion of the DSST and the PRS for each of the 18 images depicting different environments. Actual attention restoration was measured by latency values in the DSST instead of through both speed and error rates due to some operational issues with the DSST which interfered with the full achievement of the study’s aims. There was an effect of different environments and mystery on perceived attention restoration. However, there appeared to be no effect on actual attention restoration, indicating a disconnect between perceived and actual restoration. Further research is required to confirm the specific effects of natural and built environments and mystery on attention restoration.

Audio-visual interaction and visitor characteristics affect perceived soundscape restorativeness: Case study in five parks in China

The capacity of urban parks to contribute to soundscape restorativeness, understood here as contributions to people’s recovery from attentional fatigue and reflection on life issues, is receiving increased interest in research and policy. However, scientific understanding of the influential mechanism of perceived soundscape restorativeness is still not clear. This paper aims to explore the effects of audio-visual interaction on perceived soundscape restorativeness (PSR) of urban parks, considering visitors of different social and demographic characteristics. The research design comprises a survey of 419 visitors to five urban parks in Fuzhou, China, general structure equation modeling, and multi-group model analysis. The results show a substantial dependence of visitors’ PSR values on respective perceptions of soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness, especially soundscape pleasantness. Visual landscape characteristics showed mediating effects on the influence of soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness on the perceived soundscape restorativeness (19.3 % and 28.3 % of the total effect, respectively). Age was the most influential social and demographic characteristic affecting the PSR, followed by gender, while occupation and educational background showed only limited effects. Future development of urban parks should strongly integrate soundscape design considerations to enhance positive PSR effects for visitors.

Evaluation of failure risks for manual tightening operations in automotive assembly lines

PurposeThe tightening operations are one of the most critical operations in automotive assembly lines because of its direct impact on customer safety. This study aims to evaluate the major complexity drivers for manual tightening operations, correlate with real tightening failure data and propose mitigations to improve the complexity.Design/methodology/approachIn the first stage, the complexity drivers for manual tightening operations were identified. Then, the relative importance of the risk attributes was defined by using pairwise comparisons questionnaire. Further, failure mode effect analysis–analytic hierarchy process (FMEA–AHP) and AHP ratings methods were applied to 20 manual tightening operations in automotive assembly lines. Finally, the similarities between the revealed results and the real failure rates of a Turkish automotive factory were examined and a sensitivity analysis was conducted.FindingsThe correlation between the proposed methods and manual tightening failure data was calculated as 83%–86%. On the other hand, the correlation between FMEA–AHP and AHP ratings was found as 92%. Poor ergonomics, operator competency and training, operator concentration-loose attention fatigue, manual mouthing before the tightening operation, frequent task changes, critical tightening sequence, positioning of the part and/or directional assembly were found relatively critical for the selected 20 tightening operations.Originality/valueThis is a unique study for the evaluation of the attributes for manual tightening complexity in automotive assembly lines. The output of this study can be used to improve manual tightening failures in manual assembly lines and to create low complexity assembly lines in new model launches.

Virtual Reality Greenspaces: Does Level of Immersion Affect Directed Attention Restoration in VR Environments?

Research on attention restoration theory has provided consistent results over the years, and exposure to nature has been found to significantly improve and restore directed attention fatigue. However, rapid urbanisation has made it increasingly difficult for human beings to interact with unpolluted nature. Countries such as Singapore began to integrate nature into city planning and into the designs of buildings to help resident satisfaction and well-being. Local studies have had contradictory outcomes; residents report significantly higher restoration and affect towards vertical integrated greeneries, but many would still prefer traditional on-the-ground foliage. Interest in outdoor greenspaces is variable because Singapore’s high heat and humid climate make it uncomfortable to interact with outside nature for prolonged periods. The current study tested alternative modalities that can provide residents with on-the-ground foliage interactions, without the discomfort of being outdoors. Virtual exposures with different levels of immersion (high and low) and types of scenes (nature and urban) were tested for effects on perceived presence, perceived restoration and objective restoration. A total of 120 adult participants completed the study, which revealed that a virtual reality-nature condition provided significantly superior directed attention restoration and higher presence ratings. Immersive tendency did not affect perceived presence; neither did it moderate the relationship between perceived presence and its corresponding perceived restoration.

Elderly attention improvement after a physical aerobic exercise

Introduction. Decreasing cognitive performance is one of the main changes due to the aging process and physical exercise could be an effective intervention to minimize this reduction in cognitive impairment. Objective. to investigate the effects of physical aerobic exercise (dance class) on concentrated attention performance in the elderly. Method. Twenty-five elderly subjects (24 women) aged 68.5±6.7years, 65.0±11.3kg, and 149.1±6.25cm participated in this study. To evaluate effects of physical aerobic exercise on concentrated attention performance, the Toulouse-Piéron Attention Test (attentional speed, attention accuracy, and attentional fatigue resistance) was applied before and after a single physical aerobic exercise (dance class) with participants. Student's paired t-test was performed to compare attentional performance before and after physical exercise. Results. After physical exercise, there was an improvement in attentional speed (84.0±36.3 vs. 109.4±37.8; p&lt;0.05), attentional accuracy (4.8±5.7 vs. 2.5±1.9; p&lt;0.05) and attentional fatigue resistance (-154.6±95.5 vs. -103.7±98.9; p&lt;0.05) in the elderly subjects. Conclusion: A single session of physical aerobic exercise of dance class improved concentrated attention performance in the elderly, which could improve concentration and activity performance in their daily lives.

Perceived sensory dimensions: Key aesthetic qualities for health-promoting urban green spaces

The importance of urban green areas to support people’s health and wellbeing has been confirmed by many studies. In addition to regulating functions regarding water, air, and climate, urban green spaces can also contribute through psychologically driven pathways to, e.g., aid restoration from stress and attention fatigue and to promote physical activity (ibid.)

An experimental test of the impact of avian diversity on attentional benefits and enjoyment of people experiencing urban green‐space

Abstract Biodiversity may play a key role in generating the well‐being benefits of visiting green‐spaces. The ability of people to accurately perceive variation in biodiversity is, however, unclear and evidence supporting links between biodiversity exposure and well‐being outcomes remains equivocal. In part, this is due to the paucity of controlled experimental studies that deal adequately with confounding factors that covary with biodiversity. Attention restoration theory (ART) proposes that natural environments contain many softly fascinating stimuli that provide visitors with a sense of separation from their normal settings and routines, switching off direct attention and allowing recovery from attention fatigue. Increased biodiversity could increase these stimuli, and ART therefore potentially provides a mediating effect linking biodiversity to well‐being. Here, we conduct a controlled experiment in which participants virtually experience urban green‐space containing high and low levels of avian biodiversity (altered by manipulating bird song). Respondents accurately identified the contrast in biodiversity and reported greater enjoyment of the high biodiversity treatment than the low diversity control. Higher biodiversity did not, however, elicit greater self‐reported stimulation or restoration, and did not increase perceived restorativeness scores or attentional capacity (quantified using the Digit Span Backwards attention test). Respondents that were more connected to nature, however, had greater attentional capacity following exposure to green‐space. Our study provides rare experimental evidence that people can accurately detect variation in biodiversity, that high avian diversity boosts visitor perceptions of urban green‐space quality, and that people with increased nature connectedness show enhanced attentional capacity following an exposure to green‐space. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Strategic Topics and Strategic Changes: From the Perspective of Attentional Engagement

Strategic topics communicated by executives have been less studied in the area of attentional engagement. Understanding strategic topics consisting of vocabularies is crucial to exploring attentional engagement in the pipeline of a communication channel. Using shareholder letters issued by S&P 100 listed companies, this study investigates the syntactic and semantic features of strategic topics in public documents – topic variety and content – that could affect a firm’s strategic changes and suggests the conditions that strategic topics are translated into strategic changes. For textual analysis of shareholder letters, this study adopted LDA topic modeling and supervised learning-based text classification as well as semantic validation. The findings empirically support the presence of attentional fatigue that overshadows attentional synergy.

The Restorative Effect of the Presence of Greenery on the Classroom in Children’s Cognitive Performance

Studies developed in a scholar context 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. Studies usually compare the performance of children in schools with or without access to green spaces. In this study, the effect of introducing greenery into the classroom context was compared across time. The experiment was developed in two primary schools with pupils in different socioeconomic contexts, at three moments: before introducing an artificial green wall into the classroom, one month later, and one month after the introduction of vegetable pots. Results showed a significant increase in sustained and selective attention, and work memory between the experimental and the control group, notably in the third moment when vegetable pots were introduced. In the second moment (green walls), only the work memory (tested with the inversed number) showed a significant effect. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of nature’s role both in terms of natural and artificial elements and the cumulative effect of direct interaction with natural elements.

Sensemaking in the Time of COVID‐19

Abstract When people encounter surprising or confusing events, they engage in sensemaking to answer the questions, ?what?s the story?? and ?now what?? (Weick et al , 2005) Sensemaking is a socially constructed process in which individuals interact with their environment and with others to create meaning and enable action The COVID-19 pandemic has created an environment that is dynamically uncertain ? routines are upended, normal interactions are disrupted, and risk must be reassessed on an ongoing basis

The Role of Regenerative Design in The Sustainability of Educational Buildings

Sustainability is a holistic meaning that has been addressed by many studies in many respects but has agreed to achieve a human-friendly environment, which cannot be sustained without integration with natural ecosystems to reduce the consumption of natural resources needed to sustain life without compromising the ability of subsequent generations. One of the requirements for achieving a livable environment is a healthy lifestyle. The surrounding physical and natural environment affects the health of its users. Attentional fatigue and lack of concentration are the most important negative effects of the health of contemporary society in general and the users of educational buildings in particular, as a result of the continuous daily pressures to which they are exposed, showing the consequences of multiple psychological and physiological diseases. Hence, the research adopted to address the problem of increasing levels of tension and stress among users of educational buildings, assuming that the utilization of regenerative design mechanisms in educational buildings could reduce the levels of tension and fatigue, and increase the stimulation of attention, which is represented by the self-organization of the place). The results of the research proved the effective role of the mechanisms of spatial self-regulation in the manufacturing of regenerative health spaces.

Do adolescents understand what we are asking?

The transition from school to work or study is considered a stressful time. Especially with regard to the dyadic coping with this stress of adolescents and parents, there are hardly any findings. On one hand, this has to do with the fact that stress and coping, as scientific constructs, are difficult to operationalize. On the other hand, questionnaires for adults cannot be directly transferred to adolescents. Their linguistic abilities and their lived experiences sometimes differ considerably from those of adults. Especially adolescents with poor reading and writing skills, who are often threatened by dropping out, but also many adults are overstrained with the use of complex language as used in questionnaires. Research results derived from this can be problematic if answers are not truly trustworthy due to misunderstanding or attention fatigue. This is particularly serious when intervention instruments are constructed from the results. Particularly, young people with poor reading skills or cognitive difficulties need interventions more frequently and appropriate to their needs in the context of their vocational orientation. In this paper it is assumed that linguistically appropriate instruments can be helpful in surveys. This paper therefore describes an experiment in which a validated coping inventory (SACS Strategic Approach to Coping-Style, Hobfoll 1998) was semantically adapted to the career choice phase. About 300 respondents of career-choice age were asked about their experience and coping styles during this time. Half of the group were randomly presented with a questionnaire containing items in a simplified language. The scales obtained in this way show acceptable test quality criteria for both variants, so that, after further validation, they can be used for adapted surveys.