Keywords

Cognitive restoration, color, environment

Abstract

Although individuals have limited directed attention capabilities, it has been shown that exposure to natural environments elicit cognitive restoration (i.e. Berman, 2008). It has also been shown that individuals prefer blue and green colors because they are relaxing and prompt happy feelings (Guilford & Smith, 1959; Mahnke, 1996; Wexner, 1954). The question however, is what aspects of nature elicit these effects: is it the natural colors, the environmental setting, or both? The present experiment will examine the effects of color (Blue, Green, Black and White, & Natural) and environmental setting (Urban, Foliage, & Aquatic) on measures of attention, short term memory, and mood. Additionally, this study was designed to replicate the findings of Berman et.al 2008, all while rigorously controlling for the pictorial content of its manipulation. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, no specific hypotheses were made. However, the goal of this research was to “tease apart” the effects of color and environment on the restoration of cognitive abilities. One hundred and nineteen non-color blind individuals completed pre and post tests for the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y-1), Backwards Digit Span, and the Attention Network Task and viewed one of the twelve color/environmental setting picture sets between the pre and posttests. Results of the 2x3x4 Mixed ANOVAs do not support past research which suggests that natural environments are restorative in nature.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2013

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Smither, Janan

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Modeling and Simulation

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004892

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004892

Language

English

Release Date

August 2013

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Graduate Studies, Graduate Studies -- Dissertations, Academic

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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