Can Exposure to Certain Urban Green Spaces Trigger Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in the Brain?—Preliminary Findings from a Passive Task EEG Study

Abstract

A growing body of evidence from observational and experimental studies shows the associations between exposure to urban green spaces (UGSs) and mental health outcomes. Little is known about which specific features of UGS that might be the most beneficial. In addition, there is potential in utilizing objective physiological markers of mental health, such as assessing brain activity, but the subject requires further investigation. This paper presents the preliminary findings from an on-going within-subject experiment where adult participants (n = 22; 13 females) were passively exposed to six landscape scenes within two UGSs (a park and a neighborhood green space) and three scenes of a busy urban downtown (control site). The landscape scenes were pre-selected based on their contemplative landscape score (CLS) to represent different levels of aggregation of contemplative features within each view. Participants went to each of the sites in a random order to passively view the scenes, while their electroencephalography (EEG) signal was being recorded concurrently. Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) values, commonly associated with the approach-related motivation and positive emotions, were extracted. The preliminary results show trends for the main effect of site on FAA, suggestive of stronger FAA in park compared to the control site, akin to more positive mood. There was also a trend for the interaction between the site and scene, which suggests that even within the individual sites, there is variability depending on the specific scene. Adjusting for environmental covariate strengthened these effects, these interim findings are promising in supporting the study hypothesis and suggest that exposure to urban green spaces may be linked to mental health outcomes.

Impact of dynamic greenspace exposure on symptomatology in individuals with schizophrenia

“…Neuroscience-based mechanisms of action remain an area of ongoing research, but there has been some evidence of greenspace exposure inducing improved functional and structural brain changes as well as activation of the parasympathetic nervous system [9]. Functional changes have been detected via electroencephalography (EEG) and extraction of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) values, which are often related to motivation and positive emotions [10]. Structural changes have been observed via brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), with positive associations found between lifelong exposure to greenspace and bilateral gray matter and white matter volumes [11].…”

Visual Quality Assessment of Urban Scenes with the Contemplative Landscape Model: Evidence from a Compact City Downtown Core

“…These insights and, more recently, findings about the contemplative landscapes [19,20], support the widespread use of urban greening solutions, such as the conservation of native vegetation, adding more greenery to the city overall, and incorporating elements of the natural environment into buildings and interior design.…”

“…However, for highly contemplative landscapes (CL score > 4.33 points), this pattern was significantly stronger when compared to landscape with relatively low contemplative (CL scores < 3.76 points) green scenes [19,22]. Correspondingly, preliminary findings suggest that passive in-situ exposure to highly contemplative landscapes (CL scores > 4.90 points) can trigger the brain response associated with positive approach and motivation [20]. The CLM can be used in-situ at selected viewpoints or remotely on a given photo taken from a landscape scene.…”

An Interdisciplinary Mixed-Methods Approach to Analyzing Urban Spaces: The Case of Urban Walkability and Bikeability

“…For instance, integrative Global Positioning System (GPS)-based timestamped measurements with multi-sensor boards, travel diary instruments, and visualization aids (such as LifeLog and LifeLog View; [ 11 ]) offer tremendous potential for gaining new insights into the dynamics of urban spaces, such as relationships between built-environments and human behavior. Moreover, it has become possible to study brainwave patterns (EEG) to passive exposure of urban green spaces via photographic presentations in experimentally-controlled laboratory settings [ 12 ]. However, as each physiological and social-scientific method comes with its limitations, several uncertainties can compromise the analysis of urban spaces: Surveys and qualitative interviews are prone to respondents’ selective attention, and perception, faulty memory, and cognitive biases [ 13 , 14 ]; geospatial analysis often lacks detailed and complete geodata; and wearable sensors are characterized by a number of measurement uncertainties in data acquisition and analysis.…”