Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36612512›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022

Restorative Effects of Observing Natural and Urban Scenery after Working Memory Depletion.

Menno van Oordt, Kim Ouwehand, Fred Paas

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. The Association of Exposure to Urban Greenspace and Depression in Women.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Menno van OordtDepartment of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Kim OuwehandDepartment of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Fred PaasDepartment of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-1647-5305

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

According to attention restoration theory observing nature has restorative effects on cognitive components, such as working memory, after a cognitive depleting task. Additionally, urban environments are thought to have no effect or even a negative effect on cognitive restoration. Previous research has confirmed that observing actual, as well as digitally presented nature sceneries leads to more restoration of working memory capacity (WMC) than observing (digital) urban sceneries. To further investigate these findings, we conducted an experiment with 72 university students as participants. After a WMC depleting task, participants observed either digitally presented nature scenery, urban scenery or no scenery, and subsequently performed a digit span test, which was used to measure restoration of WMC. Results indicated significant higher performance on the digit span test for those who observed nature scenery in comparison to those who observed urban scenery or no scenery, thereby replicating results from previous research. Observing urban scenery was neither harmful nor helpful in terms of cognitive restoration compared to observing no scenery. These findings provide a foundation for implementing a brief intervention of observing nature in academic settings to facilitate the restoration of WMC.

Indexed as

AttentionMemory, Short-TermHumansattention restoration theory (ART)cognitive restorationdepletionnatural environmentspicture viewingurban environmentsworking memory capacity (WMC)

Identifiers

PMID36612512
PMCPMC9819488

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Registered trials

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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.