Yin and colleagues (2018): Impacts of biophilic environment exposure on human physiological and cognitive performance through mindsponge theory perspective

Yin and colleagues (2018): Impacts of biophilic environment exposure on human physiological and cognitive performance through mindsponge theory perspective Minh-Hieu Thi Nguyen School of Psychology, Massey University, Auckland 0632, New Zealand Faculty of Management and Tourism, Hanoi University, Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi, 10000, Vietnam * * * * * I am participating in BMF Collaborative Project 1: Urban residents’ biodiversity connections and belief in biodiversity loss, and here is an insight from Physiological and cognitive performance of exposure to biophilic indoor environment that connects with the SM3D theoretical framework [2,3]. Yin and colleagues (2014) examined physiological and cognitive responses to indoor environments with and without biophilic features via physical and virtual experiences. The research found that interacting with a biophilic environment lowers participants’ blood pressure and negative emotion and increases their short-term memory and positive emotion. Their skin conductance also decreases less in non-biophilic than biophilic ones. More interestingly, the physical and virtual experiences have similar results. From the mindsponge perspective, the information people absorb from their interactions with the environment is integrated and differentiated via a multi-filtering system [4]. If information is compatible with people’s mindsets (core values), it will be synthesized and incorporated through integration. If not, people will assess the cost and benefit of accepting or rejecting the different information. Much evidence suggests that biophilia exists naturally in people’s mindsets; thus, the experiences in the biophilic environment are integrated, and those in the non-biophilic environment are differentiated. Differentiation is a more stressful process as it consumes more energy and requires the involvement of many cognitive functions, possibly leading to poor information exchange with the surrounding environment and negative impact on human health (e.g., high blood pressure, lower short-term memory, and negative emotion).