133372 20260217205504.0 doi 10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102280 sideral 138052 ART-2024-138052 eng Staats, Henk Understimulation resembles overstimulation: Effects on school children's attentional performance, affect, and environmental preference 2024 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted Research on restorative environments has long examined the benefits of nature exposure for people whose resources have been depleted due to a situation that is too demanding for the individual. We argue that people's resources can also be taxed in understimulating situations, in which there is a lack of sensory, cognitive, social and/or behavioral stimulation, leading to a need for recovery. Exploring this phenomenon forms the main objective of this study. Given the potential benefits that contact with nature in educational centres has for children, we chose young children (N = 145, Mage = 9.34) at school as participants. We conducted a 3 (stimulation: under, over, and control) by 2 (environments: natural, urban) by 3 (time: before stimulation treatment, just after, and after exposure to environment) mixed-mode experiment. The environments were simulated through a series of slides presented on a screen in the classrooms where also the initial part of the experiment took place. Our results show that both under- and overstimulating situations are taxing for children's capacity for attention, and that understimulation decreases children's positive affect. After overstimulation, exposure to natural scenes restored attentional capacities, while exposure to urban scenes did not. After understimulation, exposure to any of the environments (nature; urban) restored children's attentional capabilities and lifted their mood. Future research could focus especially on low stimulation/low meaning situations to better understand their negative effects on attention and mood. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICIU/PGC2018-095502-B-I00 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by-nc https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.es 7.0 2024 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 11 / 223 = 0.049 2024 Q1 T1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES 22 / 193 = 0.114 2024 Q1 T1 2.208 2024 Social Psychology 2024 Q1 Applied Psychology 2024 Q1 10.0 2024 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Collado, Silvia Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-3580-5947 Sorrel, Miguel A. 4009 740 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Psicología y Sociología Área Psicología Social 95 (2024), 102280 [10 pp.] J. environ. psychol. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 0272-4944 3959981 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/133372/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2619662 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/133372/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:133372 articulos driver 2026-02-17-20:22:55 ARTICLE