Does nature restore attention? A systematic review
Nature exposure improved working memory and cognitive flexibility, and less reliably attentional control, with low-to-moderate effects.
The short version
Time in or around nature seems to help some of the mental abilities we rely on for focused work, but not all of them, and not by a lot. This systematic review and meta-analysis found that exposure to natural environments improved working memory and cognitive flexibility, with weaker and less reliable evidence for attentional control. The effects were low to moderate in size.
What the researchers did
Attention restoration theory, proposed in the 1980s and 1990s, holds that natural environments let the effortful, "directed" attention we use for demanding tasks recover. The problem is that "attention" covers many different processes, and studies have measured it in many different ways, which made earlier reviews hard to interpret.
Stevenson, Schilhab and Bentsen set out to clarify which processes nature actually affects. They gathered 42 articles published since July 2013 that compared exposure to natural environments or stimuli against a suitable control and used an objective cognitive test, rather than relying on how restored people felt. Their meta-analysis pooled 49 outcome measures and sorted them into eight cognitive domains.
What they found
- Three domains looked sensitive to nature: working memory, cognitive flexibility and, less reliably, attentional control.
- Effects were modest. The authors describe them as low to moderate.
- Real nature may beat virtual nature. Exposure to real environments appeared to produce stronger effects than photographs or videos in those domains, though the authors note that real exposures also tended to last longer, which could explain the gap.
- Study design matters. Aspects of the protocol seemed to influence how strong the restoration effect was, and it was unclear whether people who started out more fatigued benefited more.
Limits and caveats
Many of the underlying studies were small, used different tasks and exposures, and measured effects shortly after a single session. An earlier review by Ohly and colleagues (2016) also found benefits on only some measures. Together, they suggest nature is a real but limited lever rather than a fix for poor focus.
What it means for how you work
A walk in a park or a few minutes outside is one of the more reasonable things to do with a longer break. It also combines well with movement, which has its own small evidence base (Chang et al., 2012). If you cannot get outside, even a short look at a natural view has some support (Lee et al., 2015), but real environments seem to do more than screens. Expect a modest lift in how well you hold information in mind and switch between ideas, not a transformation of your attention span.