We will be posting primers, journal papers of interest and results from our latest Nature and Brain project here so stay tuned but here are a few tidbits to get you started.

Meta-analyses

Thorough 2015 meta-analysis by Ethan McMahan and David Estes on the effects of nature contact on positive and negative affects in the Journal of Positive Psychology

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760.2014.994224

Nature and Rumination

Greg Bratmen et al examine how nature can influence brooding using fMRI. www.pnas.org/content/112/28/8567.abstract

Eye Movements and Nature Scenes 

Deltcho Valtchenov and Colin Ellard explore how scenery influences our minds www.researchgate.net/publication/280018393_Cognitive_and_affective_responses_to_natural_scenes_Effects_of_low_level_visual_properties_on_preference_cognitive_load_and_eye-movements

Microbiome, Nature and Our Immune System

Graham Rook dives into the importance of how nature influences our microbiome http://www.pnas.org/content/110/46/18360.full.pdf

The Brain on Beauty

Excellent research by Irving Biederman and Edward Vessel on the built-in reward system for our inforvore brains.

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2006/3/perceptual-pleasure-and-the-brain

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2006/3/perceptual-pleasure-and-the-brain

Helpful review by neuroaesthetics specialists Anjan Chatterjee and Oshin Vartanian

http://ccn.upenn.edu/chatterjee/anjan_pdfs/ChatterjeeVartanianTICSNeuroaesthetics.pdf

Nature Imagery in Prisons

MSNBC: Weekends with Alex Witt:

www.msnbc.com/weekends-with-alex-witt/watch/1-in-5-prison-inmates-solitarily-confined-551597635940

Washington Post:

www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/10/12/the-stunningly-simple-idea-that-could-change-solitary-confinement-as-we-know-it/

Some Useful Reference Books

Places of the Heart: the Psychogeography of Everyday Life by Colin Ellard

The Age of Insight: the Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present by Eric Kandel

Your Brain on Nature by Eva Selhub and Alan Logan

Ecopsychology: Science, Totems and the Technological Species edited by Peter Kahn and Pat Hasbach.

Blue Mind: The surprising science that shows how being near, in,on or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do by Wallace J. Nichols.