Assessing Hearts and Minds in Nature: a Scoping Review and Critical Evaluation of Psychophysiological Approaches

Assessing Hearts and Minds in Nature: a Scoping Review and Critical Evaluation of Psychophysiological Approaches | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Systematic Review Assessing Hearts and Minds in Nature: a Scoping Review and Critical Evaluation of Psychophysiological Approaches David O'Reilly, Anastasia Kokkinou, Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8640407/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background Towards the long-term goal of developing a robust empirical basis capable of directly supporting health-promoting urban-planning initiatives, this study reviewed which physiological measures are currently used to assess the mental wellbeing effects of nature-related exposure. Building on this overview, this study then critically evaluated the current methodological and conceptual approaches underpinning this literature. Methods We performed a scoping review of multiple databases for prospective intervention studies assessing the mental wellbeing effects of active or passive nature exposures in both real-world and virtual environments. 102 relevant studies were identified by two blinded researchers following established guidelines. Results The findings point to an emerging and increasingly diverse research field drawing on a wide array of physiological markers to support the restorative potential of natural environments. However, they also underscored substantial challenges and shortfalls concerning the ecological validity, mechanistic grounding and translatability of psychophysiological findings. Conclusions Addressing these drawbacks requires a strategic shift in conceptual and methodological approaches across the field, specifically incorporating innovative urban planning and experimental design concepts, advanced data analysis techniques and a broadening of the scope for anticipated effects through a relaxation of a priori assumptions. We suggest that this paradigm shift will ultimately enable a more effective exploitation of advanced physiological tools for generating ecologically valid and precise in situ wellbeing assessments. Psychology Health Policy Urban Studies City Management and Urban Policy Nature Mental wellbeing Biomarkers Biophilia Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Tables 2 and 3 are available in the Supplementary Files section. Supplementary Files Table2.pdf Table.2 Tables3.pdf Table.3 SupplementarymaterialsS1.docx Supplementary Materials S1 SupplementarymaterialsS2.docx Supplementary Materials S2 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8640407","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Systematic Review","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":576909426,"identity":"47ea61b8-59b0-4bec-a09f-43d034114b34","order_by":0,"name":"David O'Reilly","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8471-9447","institution":"NeuroLandscape","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"O'Reilly","suffix":""},{"id":576909429,"identity":"03018da1-a386-41a4-a9cc-9a270f5abcfa","order_by":1,"name":"Anastasia Kokkinou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"NeuroLandscape","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anastasia","middleName":"","lastName":"Kokkinou","suffix":""},{"id":576909431,"identity":"4b925aa4-e61e-4314-8baf-ea54459f3d65","order_by":2,"name":"Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"NeuroLandscape","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Agnieszka","middleName":"","lastName":"Olszewska-Guizzo","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-19 14:36:04","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8640407/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8640407/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100747745,"identity":"104c0f12-bcc6-4e9f-9695-5f69aa6451f5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:57","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":516680,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eOutline of each stage of the screening process in the current study.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig.1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/8753acb4d845cac77c3f9dd1.png"},{"id":100747686,"identity":"439962f7-f594-444d-ad8b-b4f7c7e61d49","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:31","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":5470648,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eGeneral attributes of the selected studies including distributions for year published, sample, and male participants across the selected studies. Below, a world map illustrating the number of\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eselected studies per country.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig.2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/07c96aa2f9831c2d1af85d85.png"},{"id":100747741,"identity":"b74d9b1b-e2c9-4cf1-88ef-6a75c5e48f0c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:49","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":693348,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e(A)\u003c/strong\u003e The selected studies either implicitly or explicitly investigated (multi)-sensory exposure to nature and biophilic elements, capturing the resulting physiological responses from three main sources: 1) cortical, 2) cardiological and 3) dermal activity. \u003cstrong\u003e(B) \u003c/strong\u003eA Sankey diagram illustrating the predominant biomarker and psychological constructs employed across selected studies. Colour coded links between physiological measures and psychological constructs highlight their co-occurrence. The relative node sizes indicate their frequency of use of each measure while relative link widths frequency of concurrent use within studies\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig.3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/ccc2d4ed9d672fc6484801eb.png"},{"id":100747687,"identity":"0e99f5ff-07c7-4bd2-9b0a-8cd8a6c3f231","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:35","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":204899,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eA Sankey diagram illustrating the frequency of activities (left) and environmental context (right) across selected studies. Connections between activities and environments represent co-occurrences across studies. Node and connection widths indicate their relative frequency of occurrence and co-occurrence respectively.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig.4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/f0225d0af6cf62fb92e5ee7f.png"},{"id":100747690,"identity":"36343294-f1e8-4e33-808c-496773b0bde8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:37","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":232220,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eThe statistical characteristics of physiological signals vary continuously across multiple timescales, hence they can be interpreted differently depending on the time-window of analysis. For example here, across a 5 minute time-window the signal may definitively demonstrate an increasing trend, whereas longer time-windows may potentially nullify or amplify this observed effect. Hence, short-term recordings and linear statistics that assume ergodicity don’t effectively represent the genuine impacts of nature exposure.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Fig.5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/2bf39265fc0f119a9a4759d5.png"},{"id":100748032,"identity":"c0856538-8b33-4fd4-9385-89110fd9b863","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 04:00:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3537709,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ScopingReview.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1_covered_59335f7b-f6ba-4b45-aea8-66134eab3a1b.pdf"},{"id":100747655,"identity":"0a4a3d6a-e241-4119-8fb5-474144b049e2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:25","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":33685,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eTable.2\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Table2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/e1ec098cf209becab70056c5.pdf"},{"id":100747685,"identity":"aa99a8b6-2d3f-4b3e-82b0-0dec8844b661","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:28","extension":"pdf","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":30082,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eTable.3\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Tables3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/ca300ca0d20957867bb3ec7f.pdf"},{"id":100747689,"identity":"331aed6f-26be-420a-889e-3293e7635705","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:37","extension":"docx","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":20612,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Materials S1\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementarymaterialsS1.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/ea20ed47713a36264e5f1037.docx"},{"id":100747742,"identity":"39777d0f-8830-4499-8db1-dc1b79ff8353","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 03:58:49","extension":"docx","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":13698,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Materials S2\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementarymaterialsS2.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8640407/v1/7c9de928ba4cf138d9d06f59.docx"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTables 2 and 3 are available in the Supplementary Files section.\u003c/p\u003e","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eAssessing Hearts and Minds in Nature: a Scoping Review and Critical Evaluation of Psychophysiological Approaches\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"NeuroLandscape","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Nature, Mental wellbeing, Biomarkers, Biophilia","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8640407/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8640407/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTowards the long-term goal of developing a robust empirical basis capable of directly supporting health-promoting urban-planning initiatives, this study reviewed which physiological measures are currently used to assess the mental wellbeing effects of nature-related exposure. 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