HOW TO RESTORE FROM MENTAL FATIGUE: RESTORATIVENESS OF SOCIAL VERSUS NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

The present study would address two key limitations in the current research on restorative environments. First, to address the lack of research examining restorativeness of social environments, we explored the perceived restorativeness and attentional restoration afforded by social compared to natural environments. Second, we explored the role of extraversion in moderating the restorativeness of those environments. A mixed between subjects and within-subjects design was used. About 150 participants were exposed to a task built to induce attentional fatigue (Sustained Attention Response Test (SART). Participants were then randomly assigned to four experimental conditions whereby they observed one of four different environments: natural setting, social setting on neutral background, urban setting, social setting on natural setting background. Participants then completed the task for a second time. Level of attentional restoration will be examined by comparing pre and post SART reaction times and correct responses for each of the experimental conditions. Consistent with previous work, exposure to urban settings is expected to provide the least restoration. In contrast, it is anticipated that participants exposed to natural settings will experience the greatest restoration as shown by improvements in reaction times and correct responses. We also expect that social environments will have restorative utility, but this will be moderated by the participant’s level of extraversion.