ArticlePloS one2014
The perception of naturalness correlates with low-level visual features of environmental scenes.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed.
- What is Nature? A Prototype Analysis of the Natural Environment.Environment and behavior · 2026Article
- Article
- ThreatSim: A novel stimuli database of threatening and nonthreatening image pairs rated for similarity.Behavior research methods · 2025Article
- Schoolyard Level Inventory for Describing the Environment: Linking High-Resolution Spatiotemporal Data to the Physical Environment to Understand Children's Physical Activity Behaviors.The Journal of school health · 2025Article
- Nature images are more visually engaging than urban images: evidence from neural oscillations in the brain.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- The scenicness of historic buildings rivals that of natural features: evidence from crowdsourced photographs of English urban areas.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Universality of representation in biological and artificial neural networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The perceived beauty of art is not strongly calibrated to the statistical regularities of real-world scenes.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Low-Level Visual Features of Window Views Contribute to Perceived Naturalness and Mental Health Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Visual properties and perceived restorativeness in green offices: a photographic evaluation of office environments with various degrees of greening.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Chromatic and spatial image statistics predict infants' visual preferences and adults' aesthetic preferences for art.Journal of vision · 2023Article
- Seasonal Forest Changes of Color and Temperature: Effects on the Mood and Physiological State of University Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Elementary Classroom Views of Nature Are Associated with Lower Child Externalizing Behavior Problems.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Sustainable materials: a linking bridge between material perception, affordance, and aesthetics.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
- Events shape long-term memory for story information.Discourse processes · 2023Article
- The other blue: Role of sky in the perception of nature.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- The contour effect: Differences in the aesthetic preference and stress response to photo-realistic living environments.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- The Differential Impact of Mystery in Nature on Attention: An Oculometric Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Validating Visual Stimuli of Nature Images and Identifying the Representative Characteristics.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Implicit Associations With Nature and Urban Environments: Effects of Lower-Level Processed Image Properties.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Previous research has shown that interacting with natural environments vs. more urban or built environments can have salubrious psychological effects, such as improvements in attention and memory. Even viewing pictures of nature vs. pictures of built environments can produce similar effects. A major question is: What is it about natural environments that produces these benefits? Problematically, there are many differing qualities between natural and urban environments, making it difficult to narrow down the dimensions of nature that may lead to these benefits. In this study, we set out to uncover visual features that related to individuals' perceptions of naturalness in images. We quantified naturalness in two ways: first, implicitly using a multidimensional scaling analysis and second, explicitly with direct naturalness ratings. Features that seemed most related to perceptions of naturalness were related to the density of contrast changes in the scene, the density of straight lines in the scene, the average color saturation in the scene and the average hue diversity in the scene. We then trained a machine-learning algorithm to predict whether a scene was perceived as being natural or not based on these low-level visual features and we could do so with 81% accuracy. As such we were able to reliably predict subjective perceptions of naturalness with objective low-level visual features. Our results can be used in future studies to determine if these features, which are related to naturalness, may also lead to the benefits attained from interacting with nature.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.