The Effects of Childhood Exposure in Natural Environments on Attentional Fatigue through Visual Intervention of Fractal Images

Abstract

The fractal dimension of the visual natural world has been seen as a way to quantify the specific visual characteristics of nature that bring about restorative benefits. However, how an individual responds to the natural environment may depend on past experience, and specifically the time spent in nature as a child. The aim of this study is to investigate if time spent in natural environments during childhood affects the magnitude of adult restoration of attentional fatigue in response to viewing images of varying fractal dimensions. The sample included 51 participants between the ages of 17 and 58 (M = 21.22, SD = 6.82; 35.3% male, 64.7% female) recruited through advertisements placed within the university. Participants completed two sessions of a modified psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) with exposure to one of three fractal images during an intermediary rest period. A survey was completed to assess connectedness to nature and time spent in different environments in childhood as well as in adulthood. Data for both subjective fatigue and objective task performance was collected. The findings did not support an effect of image viewing on attention restoration but did show a significant association in the mid-fractal image group between childhood exposure to natural environments and subjective fatigue change. Post hoc analyses show that contrary to expected findings, childhood time in nature was a predictor of increased subjective fatigue relative to baseline. These results raise further questions about the mechanisms that visual engagement with nature might benefit attention, as well as the impact of nature exposure in childhood on our cognitive processes.