Effects of Green Coverage Ratio and Spaciousness on Self-Reported Recovery and Intellectual Concentration – a Pilot Study

Abstract

A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effects of green coverage ratio and spaciousness on physiological and psychological responses as well as cognitive performance at a resting space in a building. Fifteen participants conducted concentration cognitive tasks for 40 minutes with a 2-min break in the virtual environment. They had a virtual reality (VR) break in two scenes which were a double level atrium with 25% of green coverage ratio as the biophilic case and single level atrium without greenery as the control case. Visual comfort, self-reported concentration, recovery, productivity, pleased and dull moods, RMSSD of heart rate variability and concentration time ratio (CTR) in the biophilic case were better than those in the control case, but not significantly. For further analysis, participants were divided into two groups which consisted of strong and weak connectedness to nature by using mood status. For participants with strong connectedness to nature, visual comfort, self-reported recovery, pleased and dull moods in the biophilic case were better than those in the control case. The RMSSD indicated that participants with strong connectedness to nature in the biophilic case were calmer and more relaxed than the control case. CTR in the biophilic case was 10.9% higher than the control case. CTR was correlated to dull and pleased moods and RMSSD. Appropriate amount of green coverage ratio and spaciousness contributed to improving self-reported recovery and mood especially for participants with strong connectedness to nature, and positive mood led to improvement of intellectual concentration.

Keywords: Green coverage ratio, spaciousness, atrium, concentration time ratio, virtual reality