Attention restoration theory (ART) predicts that top-down processing during everyday activities can cause attentional fatigue and that bottom-up processing that occurs when people experience nature will be restorative. This study exposed participants to three different conditions using a repeated measures design: a control condition during which participants walked on a typical treadmill; a nature condition during which participants walked on the same treadmill, experiencing a simulated nature walk; and a perturbation condition that included the same simulated nature scene but also required top-down processing during the walk. The findings supported ART predictions. As measured by the backward digit span test, top-down processing in a simulated natural environment nullified the restorative effects and the nature condition produced a significant improvement in directed attention performance compared to the control and perturbation conditions after a 10-min walk. These findings offer practical insights to enhance cognitive functioning through simulated natural environments.

Leader character has emerged as a critical foundation for leadership. In spite of the view that leader character can be developed, there has been limited holistic attention to what it takes to develop character. Character requires conscious development, and that conscious development not only requires an understanding of what character is, but how the anatomy of character enables and inhibits character development and expression. By anatomy, we refer to the four underlying anatomical systems—physiology, affect, behavior, and cognition (PABC)—that function independently, and in an interrelated manner, to support the development of character. For illustration, we offer the practice of listening to music as a means to develop character, highlighting the links between the PABC systems and character development.

No abstract

We build on the theoretical model proposed by Crossan et al. (2021) to examine leader character activation, through the use of music, as a foundational area for leader character development. Our findings reveal that music influences all of the physiology, affect, behavior, cognitive (PABC) systems to more and less degrees. As well, music activates all dimensions of character, with different dimensions of character varying in their reliance on the PABC systems. Our empirical examination underscores the importance of examining activation as an initial step in development, yielding insights into the holistic role of the PABC systems in character development. Although all four systems are implicated, this study points to the need to understand how various dimensions of leader character rely differentially on the PABCs, which provides important insight into how leader character development can be tailored. Finally, the study verifies the important role of music therapy in the activation and subsequent development of leader character and paves the way for other innovative approaches that move beyond the cognitive and behavioral focus in leadership development to embrace physiology and affect as well.