Shibata Seiji, Tokuhiro Kenro, Ikeuchi Akinori, Ito Masakazu, Kaji Hirotaka, Muramatsu Masayoshi
Department of Human Psychology, Sagami Women's University, Sagamihara, Japan.
Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc., Nagakute, Japan.
Front Psychol. 2024 Sep 13;15:1443540. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1443540. eCollection 2024.
Office environments play a critical role in employee wellbeing and productivity. While the benefits of incorporating nature into workspaces have been recognized, the specific visual characteristics that contribute to restorativeness remain unclear. This study investigates how visual characteristics of office environments, specifically the presence of greenery and color complexity, are associated with perceived restorativeness. In Study 1, we developed a scale based on Attention Restoration Theory to measure the restorative characteristics of office environments, consisting of three subscales: Being Away, Fascination, and Extent. In Study 2, we used this scale to examine the correlation between the restorative characteristics of offices and the visual properties of office photographs. The results showed that the square root of the percentage of green area, the color fractal dimension, and the brightness fractal predicted perceived restorativeness. Notably, the color fractal dimension often showed a stronger effect than the amount of greenery per se. These findings suggest that both the presence of greenery and the overall complexity of color transitions in office spaces contribute to their restorative potential. Our study provides insights for designing more restorative office environments, emphasizing the importance of not only increasing greenery but also mimicking natural color patterns. The predictive model developed provides a practical tool for estimating the restorative potential of office designs. Although there are limitations such as the use of photographic assessments and the inability to fully explain the Extent component of restorativeness, this study contributes to our understanding of how to create more psychologically supportive work environments.
办公环境在员工福祉和生产力方面起着关键作用。虽然将自然融入工作空间的益处已得到认可，但有助于恢复精力的具体视觉特征仍不明确。本研究调查办公环境的视觉特征，特别是绿植的存在和色彩复杂性，如何与感知到的恢复力相关联。在研究1中，我们基于注意力恢复理论开发了一个量表来测量办公环境的恢复性特征，该量表由三个子量表组成：置身事外、着迷和范围。在研究2中，我们使用这个量表来检验办公室的恢复性特征与办公照片视觉属性之间的相关性。结果表明，绿色区域百分比的平方根、颜色分形维数和亮度分形能够预测感知到的恢复力。值得注意的是，颜色分形维数的影响往往比绿植本身的数量更强。这些发现表明，办公空间中绿植的存在和颜色过渡的整体复杂性都有助于其恢复潜力。我们的研究为设计更具恢复力的办公环境提供了见解，强调了不仅增加绿植而且模仿自然颜色模式的重要性。所开发的预测模型为估计办公设计的恢复潜力提供了一个实用工具。尽管存在诸如使用照片评估以及无法完全解释恢复力的范围成分等局限性，但本研究有助于我们理解如何创造更具心理支持性的工作环境。
