Views of green roofs can have cognitive benefits in less than 40 seconds

A new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology has found that even simulated views of green roofs improved cognitive tasks completion in participants in 0-40 seconds. Participants were given a difficult cognitive task, and then half were shown the image on the left of a concrete roof, and have the image on the right, of a green roof in flower. Those who saw the concrete roof performed worse on the cognitive task the after viewing the concrete roof, while those who saw the green roof image performed better. Researcher Kate Lee reports: “this indicates higher sub-cortical arousal and better attention control after viewing the green, rather than the concrete roof.” Click here to see the original article, and here for the journal.