Spreading New Light on Attention Restoration Theory: An Environmental Posner Paradigm

Background/Objectives: Environmental psychology has long investigated how exposure to natural versus urban environments influences cognitive processes, particularly attention. According to Attention Restoration Theory (ART), natural scenes promote involuntary attention and facilitate recovery from mental fatigue. In this study, we used a modified Posner cueing paradigm to assess how natural and urban backgrounds affect both exogenous (involuntary) and endogenous (voluntary) attention. To capture both behavioral and neural responses, the study collected reaction times (RTs) as a measure of task performance, alongside electrophysiological data (event-related potentials, ERPs: P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3) to explore underlying attentional processes. Methods: Participants completed a visuospatial task in which visual cues anticipated the appearance of a target stimulus, while background images depicting either natural or urban environments remained visible throughout. Attention was assessed under both valid (cue correctly predicts target location) and invalid (cue misleads target location) conditions. Results: The overall findings align with the existing literature: RTs were shorter in valid trials compared to invalid ones. No main facilitation effect from natural backgrounds was observed. However, participants showed slower RTs in invalid trials with natural backgrounds, which may support ART by suggesting that attention restoration could lead to slower responses in certain attentional scenarios. Electrophysiological data reinforced these behavioral results, revealing an increased N2 amplitude in the natural background invalid condition. Conclusions: Despite some limitations, this study provides novel insights into human–nature interactions, offering a fresh perspective on the complex relationship between environment and cognition.