Newly Validated Nature Stimuli Creates New Options for Laboratory-Based Studies

CHN uses best research practices to quantify the impacts of nature exposure on health and wellness. To develop interventions that increase time spent in nature, the CHN has devised and validated metrics for systematically investigating the impact of nature on health.

Managing the experimental conditions of outdoor settings can be difficult. Using visual representations of nature in laboratory settings to generate data that helps experts develop interventions for increasing time spent in nature would be quite valuable. Until now, no validated images of nature have been developed for such studies because there is a wide range of ideas on what is considered natural.

A CHN research team led by Bita Kash, PhD, has solved this issue by identifying which characteristics of visual stimuli are perceived as most representative of nature and validating images of nature for use in future experiments.

In the study, young adult participants rated how well images represented nature on a 5-point Likert scale. The images were divided into categories of bodies of water, canopies of vegetation taller than 8 feet, mountains, unnatural man-made elements and image framing properties. Canopies scored the highest, followed by mountains, bodies of water and finally unnatural elements.

The newly validated nature stimuli open new possibilities for quantifying nature’s restorative effects. The authors encourage the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the brain’s responses to nature stimuli in a controlled setting with replicable results. This information could aid in designing interventions that can be tailored to patients’ specific needs.

The researchers published the findings in Frontiers of Psychology and made the most highly representative nature images available online for use by researchers worldwide at: symposium.centerforhealthandnature.org/fmri-images-research-study