Real Foliage Plants as Visual Stimuli to Improve Concentration and Attention in Elementary Students

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the physiological and psychological benefits of foliage plants as visual stimuli. Twenty-three elementary students (aged 11 to 13 years old) participated in this study. In a crossover design, electroencephalography (EEG) was used to measure and determine the psycho-physiological effects of four different visual stimuli: an actual plant, artificial plant, photograph of a plant, and no plant. Subjective evaluations of emotions were assessed using the profile of mood state and semantic differential methods immediately after exposure to each visual stimulus. A significant decrease in theta waves of the frontal lobe was associated with presentation of the actual plants. This response indicated that the viewing of living plants prompted improvements in the attention and concentration of the elementary students. Furthermore, the presentation of the living plants was associated with more positive mood states, such as feelings of comfort and naturalness. In conclusion, actual plants may improve attention and prompt psychological relaxation in elementary students relative to artificial plants, photographs of plants, or the absence of plants.

Physiological Benefits of Viewing Nature: A Systematic Review of Indoor Experiments

“…Many studies have reported the effect of viewing green plants on physiological relaxation. The findings confirmed that viewing green plants, such as foliage plants, in an indoor environment can elicit positive health outcomes with greater stabilization of prefrontal cortex activity and autonomic nervous activity [39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48].…”

“…In particular, indoor experiments, where it is possible to control the stimuli and physical environment, entail more specific and diverse methodological approaches than those used in field experiments. Of the five senses, the effectiveness of sight [33,34,35,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74], smell [36,37,38,52,53,75] and touch [49,50,51] have been discussed. The rapid development of physiological indicators has enabled evaluation of body responses such as cerebral activity (functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], near-infrared spectroscopy [NIRS] and electroencephalography [EEG]), autonomic nervous activity (heart rate variability [HRV], heart rate, pulse rate and blood pressure) and endocrine activity (salivary cortisol concentration).…”

“…The rapid development of physiological indicators has enabled evaluation of body responses such as cerebral activity (functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], near-infrared spectroscopy [NIRS] and electroencephalography [EEG]), autonomic nervous activity (heart rate variability [HRV], heart rate, pulse rate and blood pressure) and endocrine activity (salivary cortisol concentration). Such data could be helpful in understanding the mechanisms underlying the physiological responses emerging from contact with nature; furthermore, the data would be useful for understanding the different effects shown by field [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32] and indoor experiments [33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75]. In particular, compared with studies that examine the effects of the other senses, studies on the visual effects of nature are at the forefront of research.…”

Foliage Plants Improve Concentration and Emotional Condition of Elementary School Students Performing an Intensive Assignment

“…Each subject performed the study procedure as presented in Fig. 1 (Oh et al, 2019). Before starting the intensive assignment, subjects rested for 1 min by staring at a white wall.…”

“…Montessori (2013) reported that because nature directly educates humans, it is necessary to offer nature-based childhood education for a healthy body and mind. The results of EEG and subjective evaluations of emotions under green visual stimuli revealed improved concentration and psychological relaxation in elementary school students when they looked at real foliage plants compared with other visual stimuli (Oh et al, 2019). According to Markevych et al (2014), as the distance from residence to green space decreased, the occurrence of behavioral problems (e.g., emotional dysregulation, hyperactivity/inattention, and peer relationship problems) in children decreased.…”