Hung and associates evaluated mentally refreshing spaces, those that are cognitively restorative. They report that “Two populations, one in Taiwan and one in Sweden, were experimentally compared by showing them photos of restorative landscapes from each country. The results showed that restorativeness was affected more by photos of the restorative landscape in Sweden than in Taiwan. The results showed that restorativeness in terms of psychological and physiological responses was affected. A significant variation in heart rate was observed between the populations: Taiwanese participants experienced higher heart rates when viewing unfamiliar and novel scenery when compared to Swedish participants. No significant differences between the populations were observed regarding attention capacity, working memory, and muscle tension.”
Shih-Han Hung, Anna Palsdottir, Asa Sang, Azadeh Shahrad, Hui-His Liao, Yu-Yun Hsu, and Chun-Yen Chang. 2023. “How Restorative Landscapes Can Benefit Psychological and Physiological Responses: A Pilot Study of Human-Nature Relationships in Sweden and Taiwan.” Landscape Research, vol. 48, no. 8, pp. 1073-1090, https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2023.2213634