TY - JOUR
T1 - The nature of impulsivity
T2 - Visual exposure to natural environments decreases impulsive decision-making in a delay discounting task
AU - Berry, Meredith S.
AU - Sweeney, Mary M.
AU - Morath, Justice
AU - Odum, Amy L.
AU - Jordan, Kerry E.
PY - 2014/5/19
Y1 - 2014/5/19
N2 - The benefits of visual exposure to natural environments for human well-being in areas of stress reduction, mood improvement, and attention restoration are well documented, but the effects of natural environments on impulsive decision-making remain unknown. Impulsive decision-making in delay discounting offers generality, predictive validity, and insight into decision-making related to unhealthy behaviors. The present experiment evaluated differences in such decision-making in humans experiencing visual exposure to one of the following conditions: natural (e.g., mountains), built (e.g., buildings), or control (e.g., triangles) using a delay discounting task that required participants to choose between immediate and delayed hypothetical monetary outcomes. Participants viewed the images before and during the delay discounting task. Participants were less impulsive in the condition providing visual exposure to natural scenes compared to built and geometric scenes. Results suggest that exposure to natural environments results in decreased impulsive decision-making relative to built environments.
AB - The benefits of visual exposure to natural environments for human well-being in areas of stress reduction, mood improvement, and attention restoration are well documented, but the effects of natural environments on impulsive decision-making remain unknown. Impulsive decision-making in delay discounting offers generality, predictive validity, and insight into decision-making related to unhealthy behaviors. The present experiment evaluated differences in such decision-making in humans experiencing visual exposure to one of the following conditions: natural (e.g., mountains), built (e.g., buildings), or control (e.g., triangles) using a delay discounting task that required participants to choose between immediate and delayed hypothetical monetary outcomes. Participants viewed the images before and during the delay discounting task. Participants were less impulsive in the condition providing visual exposure to natural scenes compared to built and geometric scenes. Results suggest that exposure to natural environments results in decreased impulsive decision-making relative to built environments.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901340114&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84901340114&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0097915
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0097915
M3 - Article
C2 - 24841421
AN - SCOPUS:84901340114
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 9
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 5
M1 - e97915
ER -