Mindfulness Better Unaided

Macaulay and teammates report that “Before and after a 20-minute outdoor experience, participants . . . completed surveys. . . . Participants were randomly allocated to one of four engagement intervention groups: mindful engagement, directed engagement, mind wandering, and an unguided control group. . . . the unguided control group had the greatest level of attention restoration. . . . . Performance on the post-test attention task demonstrated that the unguided control group had the highest level of attention restoration during the nature experience, and that the directed engagement group had the lowest level of attention restoration. . . . the unguided control group did not have to use their phone during the outdoor experience: previous research shows that engaging with technology during an outdoor break is detrimental to attention restoration.”

Rose Macaulay, Katherine Johnson, Kate Lee, and Kathryn Williams.  “Comparing the Effect of Mindful and Other Engagement Interventions in Nature on Attention Restoration, Nature Connection, and Mood.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101813