Background and Significance
In the past half century, the world populous has dramatically shifted from rural environments into urban centers. In 1950, as little as 30% of the world 's population resided in urban centers. Now, that proportion has risen to 50% and is predicted reach over 70% by 2050 (“World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights”). This shift in the world 's populous has been termed urbanization, which is the increase in number of cities and amount of people that inhabits them (Turan, & Besirli, 2008). Urbanization is the result of many factors, but can mainly be attributed to the industrialization and economic development of the world 's populous (Turan, & Besirli, 2008). People whom reside in urban communities …show more content…
The attentional aspect of top-down processes feed through the brain 's dorsal visual stream which is centered on the dorsal posterior and frontal cortex [2]. Disruptions in the pathway resulting from attentional fatigue have been associated with difficulties in attending and separating desired information from the distracting aspects of novel incoming stimuli (Van Der Linden, & Eling, 2006). Further evidence derived from functional connectivity analysis has revealed that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is active while an individual directes their attention to particular stimuli, otherwise known as top-down modulation (Gazzaley et al., 2007). Top-down modulation involves a network of brain structures that modulate sensory responses according to attention and task demands (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000). Moreover, modulation of sensory response is a form of bias that favors information which is behaviourally relevant (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000) In addition to the PFC, top-down modulation is associated with activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (Liu, Bengson, Huang, Mangun, & Ding, 2016). Researchers have speculated that the ACC is responsible for evaluating conditions in which attentional conflict may arise (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000). The anterior cingulate cortex then relays this information to the lateral prefrontal areas that resolve the …show more content…
By employing ART we could theorize that reduced activity in the PFC would be present during interaction with natural scenes when compared to urban scenes. Evidence in support of this notion can be derived from an experiment in which participants either walked in a forest area or a city area. Data from the experiment indicated that activity in the prefrontal area of the forest group was significantly less than that of the city group (Park et al., 2007). From the following research involving ART and the neurobiological mechanisms of directed attention we can formulate a hypothesis. We propose that decreased right prefrontal cortex activity during interactions with nature will ultimately lead to improvements in directed-attention
In the past half century, the world populous has dramatically shifted from rural environments into urban centers. In 1950, as little as 30% of the world 's population resided in urban centers. Now, that proportion has risen to 50% and is predicted reach over 70% by 2050 (“World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights”). This shift in the world 's populous has been termed urbanization, which is the increase in number of cities and amount of people that inhabits them (Turan, & Besirli, 2008). Urbanization is the result of many factors, but can mainly be attributed to the industrialization and economic development of the world 's populous (Turan, & Besirli, 2008). People whom reside in urban communities …show more content…
The attentional aspect of top-down processes feed through the brain 's dorsal visual stream which is centered on the dorsal posterior and frontal cortex [2]. Disruptions in the pathway resulting from attentional fatigue have been associated with difficulties in attending and separating desired information from the distracting aspects of novel incoming stimuli (Van Der Linden, & Eling, 2006). Further evidence derived from functional connectivity analysis has revealed that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is active while an individual directes their attention to particular stimuli, otherwise known as top-down modulation (Gazzaley et al., 2007). Top-down modulation involves a network of brain structures that modulate sensory responses according to attention and task demands (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000). Moreover, modulation of sensory response is a form of bias that favors information which is behaviourally relevant (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000) In addition to the PFC, top-down modulation is associated with activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (Liu, Bengson, Huang, Mangun, & Ding, 2016). Researchers have speculated that the ACC is responsible for evaluating conditions in which attentional conflict may arise (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000). The anterior cingulate cortex then relays this information to the lateral prefrontal areas that resolve the …show more content…
By employing ART we could theorize that reduced activity in the PFC would be present during interaction with natural scenes when compared to urban scenes. Evidence in support of this notion can be derived from an experiment in which participants either walked in a forest area or a city area. Data from the experiment indicated that activity in the prefrontal area of the forest group was significantly less than that of the city group (Park et al., 2007). From the following research involving ART and the neurobiological mechanisms of directed attention we can formulate a hypothesis. We propose that decreased right prefrontal cortex activity during interactions with nature will ultimately lead to improvements in directed-attention