ArticleScientific reports2017
In search of features that constitute an "enriched environment" in humans: Associations between geographical properties and brain structure.
Article in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Green Environments for Sustainable Brains: Parameters Shaping Adaptive Neuroplasticity and Lifespan Neurosustainability-A Systematic Review and Future Directions.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of outdoor nature-related activities on gut microbiota, fecal serotonin, and perceived stress in preschool children: the Play&Grow randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Stress Response and Cognitive Performance Modulation in Classroom versus Natural Environments: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study with Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Trial
- Urban greenspace and dementia: Measures, mechanisms, and methodological guidance.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Review
- Built Environment-Modulated Epigenetics: The Epigenetic Consequences of Architecturally Mediated Allostatic Overload in the Built Environment.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Review
- Whole-Brain Fractional Anisotropy, Centered on the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus, Is Positively Correlated With Urban Aesthetic Perception.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Midlife exposure to neighborhood greenness and later-life cognitive decline: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Neurobiophilia.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Differential impacts of social isolation and enriched environment on multi-sensory brain-wide functionality and network segregation.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Investigating biological sex as a moderator of the association of nature exposure with brain health: a cross-sectional UK biobank analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Architecturally Mediated Allostasis and Neurosustainability: A Proposed Theoretical Framework for the Impact of the Built Environment on Neurocognitive Health.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Walking and Hippocampal Formation Volume Changes: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- The BDNF-Interactive Model for Sustainable Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Humans: Synergistic Effects of Environmentally-Mediated Physical Activity, Cognitive Stimulation, and Mindfulness.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- How does the macroenvironment influence brain and behaviour-a review of current status and future perspectives.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- Article
- Borderline in a linear city: Urban living brings borderline personality disorder to crisis through neuroplasticity-an urgent call to action.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Neurosustainability.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Grey-matter structure in cortical and limbic regions correlates with general cognitive ability in old age.Aging brain · 2024Article
- How does the macroenvironment influence brain and behaviour - a review of current status and future perspectives.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- The integrity of dopaminergic and noradrenergic brain regions is associated with different aspects of late-life memory performance.Nature aging · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Enriched environments elicit brain plasticity in animals. In humans it is unclear which environment is enriching. Living in a city has been associated with increased amygdala activity in a stress paradigm, and being brought up in a city with increased pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) activity. We set out to identify geographical characteristics that constitute an enriched environment affecting the human brain. We used structural equation modelling on 341 older adults to establish three latent brain factors (amygdala, pACC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)) to test the effects of forest, urban green, water and wasteland around the home address. Our results reveal a significant positive association between the coverage of forest and amygdala integrity. We conclude that forests may have salutogenic effects on the integrity of the amygdala. Since cross-sectional data does not allow causal inference it could also be that individuals with high structural integrity choose to live closer to forest.
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Registered trials
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.