In an increasingly urban and industrialized world, easy access to a healthy and holistic environment as it relates to nature is becoming increasingly difficulty to maintain. This is specially concerning given the strong relationship that is present between cognitive development and healthy environments. In the study by Berman et al., the authors discuss how the relationship between an individual’s physical environment plays a huge role in their neuronal development, and how this is a newly developing filed of high salience to the future direction of neuroscience. In the study by Flouri et al., the researchers discuss how access to green space increases children’s capacity for emotional and behavioral resilience and regulation. When considered together, both studies demonstrate how the physical environment around individuals plays a huge part in their cognitive and neuronal development and function, which in turn shows how the intersection between environment and neuroscience is a relationship that should be heavily emphasized and studied in future research.
In the paper “Environmental Neuroscience” by Marc G. Berman et al., the team of researchers discuss the importance of environmental neuroscience, a growing sub field of neuroscience that explores the relationship between organisms and the social/physical environments they come from (Berman et al., 2019). The researchers discussed a few different experiments to highlight the relationship between nature and cognitive/neuronal functioning. In one of these experiments, the researchers found that participants who were able to take walks in nature performed better on working memory tasks than those who did not (Berman et al., 2019). The researchers also found that increased exposure to nature results in decreased aggression, better mood, and better attention (Berman et al., 2019). Furthermore, Berman and colleagues discussed the possible role that exposure to nature can have on decreasing stress levels and increasing capacity for attention through a restorative fashion. All in all, the discussion surrounding environmental neuroscience by Berman and his colleagues shows that exposure to nature can play a mediating and restorative role in our cognitive and neuronal function.
The implications of environmental neuroscience are made even more clear in the article “The Role of Urban Neighborhood Green Space in Children’s Emotional and Behavioural Resilience” by Flouri et al. In this study, a sample of youth from the United Kingdom is tested for their behavior and emotional patterns as they relate to the exposure to green space they have access to. The authors quantified the area of green space that the children had easy access to and saw that increased green space lead to decrease behavioral problems (Flouri et al., 2014). Furthermore, the authors also found that this relationship extended beyond socioeconomic status. Often times, correlations between youth cognitive factors and green space is moderated by the SES of the youth; wealthier children generally have greater access to green space, which usually also indicates better access to a higher quality of education, activities, etc. This study, however, found that youth with lower SES statuses from urban areas had fewer emotional problems and that green space can promote emotional well-being (Flouri et al., 2014). This shows that nature can play a huge part in the affect regulation of developing youth, and that this intersection may be a possible intervention for youth with trouble surrounding affect regulation
Berman and colleagues established the importance of environmental neuroscience while Flouri and colleagues exemplified this importance. The study by Berman et al broadly discussed the importance of studying the environment of subjects in an effort to better understand their neuroscience. Flouri gave a specific example of this model as it relates to youth. Both studies served to show that exposure to nature, specially in the developmental phase that comes with childhood, can play a moderating role in many cognitive functions such as mood, affect, memory, attention, and more.
Works Cited
Berman, Marc G., et al. “Environmental Neuroscience.” American Psychologist, vol. 74, no. 9, 2019, pp. 1039–1052., https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000583.
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