Drake Aaron C, Hasan Fiza, Gibson Arianna, Kam Julia W Y
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
PLoS One. 2025 Jan 9;20(1):e0315141. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315141. eCollection 2025.
Immersion in nature has been linked to wide-ranging benefits on mental health and cognitive functions, from reducing stress to enhancing creativity. However, a walk in nature is not always feasible, and whether a proxy for nature immersion via a mental walk in nature can elicit the same benefits as a physical walk remains largely unknown. Accordingly, the current study utilized guided imagery to examine whether a mental walk in nature would improve creativity in general and when compared to a mental walk in an urban environment. We implemented a within-subjects design, wherein participants completed both mental walk conditions (in a nature and urban environment) at least five days apart in counterbalanced order on an online platform. During each session, participants (N = 97) completed two pre-walk tasks assessing convergent (measured by the Remote Associates Test) and divergent creative thinking (measured by the Alternate Uses Test), followed by a mental walk in either a nature or urban environment, then finally the identical two post-walk creativity tasks. After five days, they repeated the same procedure with a mental walk in the other environment. While comparisons of post-walk creativity scores between the nature and urban environment did not significantly differ from each other, the comparisons between the pre- and post-walk creativity scores revealed a significant improvement in convergent creative thinking in the nature environment condition, but not the urban environment condition. Our results suggest that taking a mental walk in nature can enhance at least one aspect of creativity, therefore providing preliminary evidence for the potential to access the creative benefits of mentally immersing ourselves in nature. These findings have important implications for those who wish to enjoy the benefits of nature but are unable to readily access nature physically.
沉浸于自然已被证明对心理健康和认知功能有广泛益处，从减轻压力到增强创造力。然而，在自然中散步并不总是可行的，通过在脑海中进行自然漫步来替代实际的自然沉浸是否能带来与实际散步相同的益处，在很大程度上仍不为人知。因此，本研究利用引导式意象来探究在脑海中进行自然漫步是否能总体上提高创造力，以及与在城市环境中进行的脑海漫步相比情况如何。我们采用了被试内设计，参与者在在线平台上以平衡顺序完成两种脑海漫步情境（自然和城市环境），且两次之间至少间隔五天。在每次实验中，参与者（N = 97）先完成两项散步前任务，评估聚合性（通过远距离联想测验测量）和发散性创造性思维（通过变通用途测验测量），然后在自然或城市环境中进行一次脑海漫步，最后再完成相同的两项散步后创造性任务。五天后，他们在另一种环境中重复相同程序进行脑海漫步。虽然自然环境和城市环境中散步后的创造力得分比较没有显著差异，但散步前和散步后创造力得分的比较显示，在自然环境情境中聚合性创造性思维有显著提高，而在城市环境情境中则没有。我们的结果表明，在脑海中进行自然漫步可以增强创造力的至少一个方面，从而为通过在脑海中沉浸于自然来获得创造性益处的潜力提供了初步证据。这些发现对那些希望享受自然益处但无法轻易亲身接触自然的人具有重要意义。
