A Closer Look at Attention Restoration Theory

A 2008 paper appearing in the journal Psychological Science describes a simple experiment. Subjects were asked to take a walk on a wooded path in an arboretum near the Ann Arbor, Michigan campus where the study was conducted. The core finding of the study is that the nature group performed up to 20 percent better on the task. It wasn't the people who determined performance, but whether or not they got a chance to prepare by walking through the woods.