Go Outside to Recharge Your Mental Batteries
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Interesting post in the Cognitive Daily about Attention Restoration Theory (ART). The idea is that if you are doing heavy mental lifting – studying, writing or thinking - going outside and taking a walk for a break recharges your mental batteries more effectively than staying in place and relaxing. This seems to work because:
“ART says that the natural world engages your attention in a bottom-up fashion, by features of the environment (e.g. a sunset, a beautiful tree). The artificial world demands active attention, to avoid getting hit by cars or to follow street signs. Since intellectual activities like studying or writing also demand the same kind of attention, taking a break in the artificial world doesn’t really function like a rest.”
Clear implications for the design of cognition-intense learning and work practices.
