1. Introduction
Owing to rapid urbanization and industrialization, the number and extent of green spaces have decreased and, as a result, humans have become distanced from Nature. This disconnect can spawn social issues, such as human alienation and emotional deterioration [
1]. The savannah theory of Orians and the Wilson’s biophilia hypothesis explain the instinctive preferences of humans for the natural world [
2,
3]. The desire for closeness to nature has increased, and people have introduced plants into their indoor environments [
4,
5,
6].
Research show that most people seek nature for pleasure, social activities, or for physical exercise [
7]. Kaplan and Kaplan suggested that exposure to the natural environment can effectively restore attention [
8]. Ulrich found that stress from the external environment can be reduced through exposure to nature [
9]; this observation is supported by reports of reductions in cortisol levels and blood pressure and positive mood changes in response to the natural environment [
10,
11,
12,
13].
In South Korea, children aged 10–18 years spend an average of 0.62 h outdoors on weekdays, which is very low compared to time spent outdoors by children in Japan, Germany, and the USA [
14]. The less children become exposed to the natural environment, the more actively opportunities for children to experience nature should be provided.
Park et al. found that horticultural activities were effective in altering physical, psychological, emotional, behavioral, educational, and cognitive aspects [
15]; the effects on emotional intelligence and an eco-friendly attitude were highest in children. In childhood, the body and cognitive functions must develop simultaneously to achieve emotional stabilization [
16], and educators have suggested that exposure to nature in childhood is important for emotional development [
17,
18]. Horticultural activities stimulate a variety of emotions and provide opportunities for communication through group activities, allowing children to express their emotions naturally [
19]. Bagot and Corraliza et al. suggested that children feel more positive emotions and have a high resilience to stress in nature-friendly schools [
20,
21]. Based on the results of various studies demonstrating the benefits of the natural environment on the well-being of humans, interest in the relationship between the natural environment and human health has increased [
22].
Previous studies have showed that the viewing of foliage plants can lead to physiological and psychological relaxation by stabilizing the autonomic nervous system and activating alpha brainwaves [
23,
24,
25]. Sympathetic nerve activity and oxyhemoglobin concentration in the left frontal cortex reportedly decreases following the performance of tasks involving foliage plants relative to tasks without plants [
26]. Furthermore, transplanting activities using real plants induced better emotional states and lower stress levels than transplanting activities using artificial flowers and computer tasks [
27,
28]. Moreover, placing foliage plants indoors has been shown to attenuate techno-stress [
29]: the psychophysiological consequences of technology-induced alterations of living, such as an increased blood pressure and eye fatigue. Various studies have been conducted on the physiological and psychological changes that occur in adults after visual stimulation with green plants; however, such studies on children are severely limited. This study therefore investigated both the physiological and psychological responses of elementary students after viewing different foliage plants through electroencephalography (EEG) and the evaluation of participants’ emotional responses.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Subjects
The present study recruited 23 elementary school students. Researchers distributed flyers advertising the recruitment on the bulletin boards of community centers near Konkuk University, such as churches and apartment buildings. The inclusion criteria were as follows: right-hand dominance and no pre-existing physical and emotional disorders that could affect the physiological data. The first criterion was informed by reports that brain activation differs between right- and left-handed individuals [
30]. Participants received the equivalent of
$20 (USD) as an incentive to complete the experiment. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Konkuk University (7001355-2017-10-HR-206).
2.2. Experimental Environment
The experiment was conducted in a room at Konkuk University. A desk and chair was placed in the center of a room. The height of the chair was adjusted so that both feet of the subject would reach the ground. To minimize external visual stimulation, white hardboard paper was placed before the desk, and ivory-colored curtains were installed on either side of it (
Figure 1a); a 1.8-by-1.6-m space was thus enclosed. A potted plant was placed on the desk at a distance of 0.5 m from the subject (
Figure 1b). The average conditions of the experimental space were as follows: temperature, 21.8 °C; humidity, 25.2%; and illumination, 1465.8 lux.
This study employed four visual stimuli: (1) actual plants, (2) artificial plants, (3) photograph of plants, and (4) no plants. As shown in
Figure 2, the stimuli were set up as follows: (1) Actual plants: non-patterned
Epipremnum aureum were planted in a white flower pot (width 55 cm, height 15 cm). (2) Artificial plants: artificial foliage, similar in appearance to
E. aureum, were arranged in a manner similar to the actual plants and in the same kind of white flower pot. (3) Photograph: researchers printed a life-sized color photograph that was taken of the living plant used as the actual plant stimulus in condition (1). (4) Absence of plants: the same white flower pot used in conditions (2) and (3) was partially filled with plain soil.
2.3. Experimental Protocol
Prior to the experiments, the height, weight, and body composition of the participants were measured using an anthropometer (Ok7979; Samhwa, Seoul, Korea) and a body-fat analyzer (ioi 353; Jawon Medical. Gyeongsan, Korea). Demographic information, such as age and sex, was collected through a survey.
A wireless EEG (Quick-20, Cognionics, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA) was attached to the head of the subjects who were then seated in the experimental space for 3 min in order to habituate them to the novel environment. Prior to each trial, the researcher drew lots to determine the order in which to present the four visual stimuli (actual plant, artificial plant, photograph of plant, and no plant). Physiological data were collected for 3 min for each treatment. Before each stimulus was presented, the subjects were asked to look at the white wall in front of them for 1 min to encourage relaxation. After the presentation of each stimulus, the subjects were given a survey regarding their psychological response to the stimulations. The duration of the entire experiment was ~30 min per subject (
Figure 3).
2.4. Measurement Items
Brain waves from the cerebral cortex are recorded as electrical signals classified as following types based on their frequencies: gamma (30–50 Hz), beta (14–30 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), delta (4–8 Hz), and theta (4–8 Hz) [
31]. Each type of wave is association with a different situation: gamma, anxiety and excitement; beta, tension; alpha, relaxation; delta, deep sleep; and theta, shallow sleep [
32]. In this study, alpha and theta were analyzed to inform assessments of physiological stability and improvement of attention under the four visual conditions.
According to the 10–20 international system of electrode placement, the electrode was attached to the left ear lobe (A1), and the EEG was performed using a total of eight channels: Fp1 (left prefrontal cortex), Fp2 (right prefrontal cortex), F3 (left frontal lobe), F4 (right frontal lobe), P3 (left parietal lobe), P4 (right parietal lobe), O1 (left occipital lobe), and O2 (right occipital lobe) [
33]. Only two channels, F3 (left frontal lobe) and F4 (right frontal lobe), were analyzed in this study because the frontal lobe is reportedly associated with rational decision making and judgment (
Figure 4).
The profile of mood state (POMS) and semantic differential (SD) methods were used to investigate the psychological reaction of each participant to each stimulus.
The POMS method was developed by McNair et al. as a way of assessing temporary mood or emotional states that vary according to the surrounding conditions of the subjects [
34]. The questionnaire used for this method consists of 30 questions that assess tension-anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, confusion, and vigor [
35]; it was translated into Korean by Yeun and Shin-Park. Total mood disorder (TMD) is assessed through the questionnaire. A value corresponds to each response, and lower total scores indicate better emotional states.
The SD method was developed by Osgood as a method of evaluating emotions with adjectives [
36]. The questionnaire consists of three categories: comfortable to uncomfortable, natural to artificial, and relaxed to awakening. The participant’s degrees of emotion were scored on a scale of 13 points, and higher scores indicated better emotional states.
2.5. Data Analysis
SPSS (Version 22 for Windows; IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) was used to conduct one-way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis tests. A p-value of <0.05 indicated statistical significance. Demographic data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel (Office 2016; Microsoft Crop., Redmond, WA, USA) to generate descriptive statistics of the means, standard deviations, and percentages.
5. Conclusions
This study provided scientific support for the physiological and psychological effects of viewing green foliage in children. Visual stimulation with real plants reduced theta waves, indicative of a lack of concentration. Though the actual plants did not enhance alpha waves, which suggest a relaxed state, the children reported their moods to be more comfortable after viewing the living plants. Thus, the visual stimulation of green foliage plants tended to improve attention and feelings of comfort in elementary school students. This study was subject to two limitations. First, our sample size was small. Future studies should recruit more subjects to analyze more specific physiological mechanisms underlying the visual stimulation of green plants. Moreover, a larger study population would allow for the identification of sex-related differences. Second, we only measured momentary mood changes when the subjects look passively at different plant stimuli.