Cognitive Restoration in Children Following Exposure to Nature: Evidence From the Attention Network Task and Mobile Eye Tracking

Exposure to nature improves cognitive performance through a process of cognitive restoration. However, few studies have explored the effect in children, and no studies have explored how eye movements “in the wild” with mobile eye tracking technology contribute to the restoration process. Our results demonstrated that just a 30-min walk in a natural environment was sufficient to produce a faster and more stable pattern of responding on the Attention Network Task, compared with an urban environment. Exposure to the natural environment did not improve executive (directed) attention performance. This pattern of results supports suggestions that children and adults experience unique cognitive benefits from nature. Further, we provide the first evidence of a link between cognitive restoration and the allocation of eye gaze. Participants wearing a mobile eye-tracker exhibited higher fixation rates while walking in the natural environment compared to the urban environment. The data go some way in uncovering the mechanisms sub-serving the restoration effect in children and elaborate how nature may counteract the effects of mental fatigue

Stress response and cognitive performance modulation in classroom versus natural environments:A quasi-experimental pilot study with children

Stress during childhood can have mental and somatic health influences that track throughout life. Previous research attributes stress-reducing effects to natural environments, but has mainly focused on adults and often following leisurely relaxation in natural environments. This pilot study explores the impact of natural environments on stress response during rest and mental load and cognitive performance in 47 children aged 10–12 years in a school context. Heart rate variability measures indexing tonic, event, and phasic vagal tone and attention scores were compared across classroom and natural environments. Tonic vagal tone was higher in the natural environment than the classrooms, but no differences were found in event or phasic vagal tone or cognitive performance measures. These findings suggest a situational aspect of the conditions under which natural environments may give rise to stress-buffering influences. Further research is warranted to understand the potential benefits in a real-life context, in particular with respect to the underpinning mechanisms and effects of accumulated exposure over time in settings where children spend large proportions of time in natural environments

Immersive Nature-Experiences as Health Promotion Interventions for Healthy, Vulnerable, and Sick Populations? A Systematic Review and Appraisal of Controlled Studies

In this systematic review, we summarized and evaluated the evidence for effects of, and associations between, immersive nature-experience on mental, physical, and social health promotion outcomes. Immersive nature-experience was operationalized as non-competitive activities, both sedentary and active, occurring in natural environments removed from everyday environments. We defined health according to the World Health Organization's holistic and positive definition of health and included steady-state, intermediate, and health promotion outcomes. An electronic search was performed for Danish, English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish articles published between January 2004 and May 2017. Manual approaches, e.g., bibliographies from experts, supplemented the literature search. Data were extracted from 461 publications that met the inclusion criteria. To assess the status and quality of the evidence for health promotion effects of immersive nature-experience, we focused on the subset of studies based on controlled designs (n = 133). Outcome level quality of the evidence was assessed narratively. Interventions most often involved adventure-based activities, short-termed walking, and seated relaxation in natural environments. We found positive effects on a range of health promotion outcomes grouped under psychological wellbeing (n = 97; ≈55% positive; ≈13% mixed; ≈29% non-significant; 2% negative); psychosocial function (n = 67; ≈61% positive; ≈9% mixed; ≈30% non-significant); psychophysiological stress response (n = 50; ≈58% positive; ≈18% mixed; ≈24% non-significant), and cognitive performance (n = 36; ≈58% positive; ≈6% mixed; ≈33% non-significant; 3% negative); and social skills and relationships (n = 34; ≈70% positive; ≈7% mixed; ≈22% non-significant). Findings related to outcomes categorized under physical health, e.g., risk of cardiovascular disease, were less consistent (n = 51; ≈37% positive; ≈28% mixed; ≈35% non-significant). Across the types of interventions and outcomes, the quality of the evidence was deemed low and occasionally moderate. In the review, we identify, discuss, and present possible solutions to four core methodological challenges associated with investigating immersive nature-experience and health outcomes: (1) intervention and program complexity; (2) feasibility and desirability of randomization; (3) blinding of participants and researchers; and (4) transferability and generalizability. The results of the review have been published as a popular-scientific report and a scientific research overview, both in Danish language

Are children participating in a quasi-experimental education outside the classroom intervention more physically active?

Abstract Background Education outside the classroom (EOtC) is a curriculum-based approach to teaching that has shown positive associations with children’s physical activity and academic learning in small-scale case studies. The purpose of this large-scale quasi-experimental study was to determine if children who participate regularly in EOtC spend more time being physically active than children who do not. Methods In the 2014/2015 study TEACHOUT, classes were recruited in pairs such that each EOtC class had a non-EOtC comparison class at the same school and grade level. Participants in 17 EOtC classes and 16 comparison parallel classes across Denmark wore an Axivity AX3 accelerometer taped to the lower back for seven consecutive days. Data from 201 EOtC participants (63.3% girls, age 10.82 ± 1.05,) and 160 comparison participants (59.3% girls, age 10.95 ± 1.01) were analysed using an ‘intention to treat’ (ITT) approach. The amount of EOtC the participants were exposed to was monitored. Associations between time spent in different physical activity intensities and EOtC group and sex were assessed using generalised linear models adjusted for age. In a second analysis, we modified the sample using a ‘per protocol’ (PP) approach, only including EOtC and comparison class pairs where the EOtC class had >150 min and the comparison had <150 min of EOtC during the measured week. Results On average, EOtC participants spent 8.4 (ITT) and 9.2 (PP) minutes more in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day than comparison participants (p < 0.05). However, EOtC boys spent 18.7 (ITT) and 20.8 (PP) minutes more in MVPA per day than comparison boys (p < 0.01), while there were no significant between-group differences for girls. Conclusions For boys, EOtC was associated with more daily time being spent moderately and vigorously physically active. No differences were observed for girls. Implementing EOtC into schools’ weekly practice can be a time- and cost-neutral, supplementary way to increase time spent in PA for boys through grades three to six. Trial registration The Scientific Ethical Committee in the Capital Region of Denmark protocol number H-4-2014-FSP . 5 March, 2014

Design and evaluation of a noninvasive tongue-computer interface for individuals with severe disabilities

Tongue-computer interfaces have shown the potential to control assistive devices developed for individuals with severe disabilities. However, current efficient tongue-computer interfaces require invasive methods for attaching the sensor activation units to the tongue, such as piercing. In this study, we propose a noninvasive tongue-computer interface to avoid the requirement of invasive activation unit attachment methods. We developed the noninvasive tongue-computer interface by integrating an activation unit on a frame, and mounting the frame on an inductive tongue-computer interface (ITCI). Thus, the users are able to activate the inductive sensors on the interface by positioning the activation unit with their tongue. They also do not need to remount the activation unit before each use. We performed pointing tests for controlling a computer cursor and number typing tests with two able-bodied participants, where one of them was experienced with using invasive tongue-computer interfaces and other one had no experience. We measured throughput and movement error for pointing tasks, and speed and accuracy for number typing tasks for the evaluation of the feasibility and performance of the developed noninvasive system. Results show that the inexperienced participant achieved similar results with the developed noninvasive tongue-computer interface compared to the current invasive version of the ITCI, while the experienced participant performed better with the invasive tongue-computer interface