Project description
Nature improves our emotional well-being
Scientific evidence shows that interacting with nature boosts our emotional well-being and improves our cognitive function. As the world develops, however, people's exposure to nature is threatened. The EU-funded PSYNAT project aims to investigate the psychological mechanisms that account for the cognitive and emotional benefits of interacting with nature by integrating attention restoration research with aesthetic pleasure research. The project will assess the behavioural and neural outcomes of immersion in nature using virtual reality combined with eye tracking and electroencephalography. It will also assess the outcomes of isolation from nature using deep convolutional neural networks and machine learning. The knowledge gained will help incorporate important elements of nature into the design of new urban and indoor spaces.
Objective
There is increasing scientific evidence that interacting with nature improves cognition and boosts feelings of emotional well-being. However, as more of the world is being developed, people's exposure to nature is being threatened. With that comes potentially harmful effects on human cognition and mental health. The Attention Restoration Theory suggests that nature is beneficial because it captures bottom-up attention moderately - enough to be interesting and not boring - giving the attention system a chance to restore itself, improving cognition and mood. However, the existing research has not clearly defined how or why nature captures attention “moderately”. Theories of aesthetic pleasure begin to answer this question by introducing the idea of disfluency reduction. The process of disfluency reduction leads to an aesthetic experience. Too much or too little disfluency or complexity within a scene results in feelings of confusion or boredom, respectively. Here, I aim to investigate the psychological mechanisms that account for the cognitive and emotional benefits of interacting with nature by integrating the attention restoration research with the aesthetic pleasure research. Specific objectives are: (1) assessing the behavioural and neural outcomes of immersion in nature using virtual reality combined with eye tracking and electroencephalography (EEG); (2) assessing the outcomes of isolation from nature using deep convolutional neural networks and machine learning; and (3) assessing the visual features that account for the above outcomes. Through understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying the benefits of nature exposure, we will be able to fully harness nature’s benefits and to forecast the negative impacts that further urbanization and indoor confinement may have on well-being. We can then use this knowledge to incorporate the important elements of nature in the design of new urban and indoor spaces, in order to minimize the negative impacts.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software software applications virtual reality
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence machine learning
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence computational intelligence
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.