Linking urban park soundscape cognitive image to recreational visitors' perceived restorativeness: the mediating role of emotional pleasure.

Introduction: Accelerating urbanization has intensified psychological stress and mental health problems among urban residents. As accessible natural spaces for leisure and recreation, urban parks have received increasing scholarly attention for the potential restorative effects of their soundscapes. Existing studies have mainly focused on the restorative benefits of visual landscapes or examined only the direct relationship between soundscapes and perceived restorativeness. However, the potential psychological pathway through which soundscape cognitive image is associated with perceived restorativeness via emotional pleasure has not been sufficiently clarified. Based on the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study constructed a model linking soundscape cognitive image, emotional pleasure, and perceived restorativeness. Methods: Twelve urban parks in Foshan, China, were selected as case study sites. A field questionnaire survey was conducted among recreational visitors, and 300 valid responses were collected. Python 3.10 was used for data processing and descriptive analyses, and AMOS 26.0 was used for structural equation modeling and mediation tests. Results: The results showed that soundscape cognitive image was positively associated with emotional pleasure. Soundscape cognitive image was positively associated with the being away, fascination, and compatibility dimensions of perceived restorativeness, whereas its direct relationship with coherence was not significant. Emotional pleasure was positively associated with being away and compatibility, was not significantly associated with fascination, and showed a significant negative association with coherence. Bootstrap analysis further indicated that emotional pleasure served as a significant indirect pathway between soundscape cognitive image and being away, compatibility, and coherence. The indirect pathway for coherence was negative and the total relationship was not significant, suggesting that this result should be interpreted cautiously. No significant indirect pathway was found for fascination. Discussion: This study extends the application of the stimulus-organism-response framework to urban park soundscape research by showing how visitors' subjective soundscape cognition is related to perceived restorativeness through emotional pleasure. Because the study used cross-sectional self-report data, the findings should be interpreted as evidence of statistical associations and potential psychological pathways rather than as proof of causal effects. The results provide empirical references for soundscape evaluation and health-oriented urban park planning.