RESEARCH
Viewing Garden Scenes: Interaction Between Gaze Behavior and Physiological Responses
Summary
Non-pharmacological interventions, such as environmental modification like healing gardens, are increasingly being explored for managing conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, offering benefits without the adverse side effects often associated with pharmacological treatments. Healing gardens are intentionally designed to provide safe, therapeutic environments to promote well-being, potentially addressing memory deficits and reducing anxiety and agitation in patients. Drawing on theories like Attention Restorative Theory and Stress Recovery Theory, which suggest natural environments counteract mental fatigue and aid stress recovery, the study highlights that certain designs, like Japanese gardens, are particularly effective in eliciting calming physiological and psychological responses in both healthy individuals and those with dementia. Despite prior research showing that exposure to Japanese gardens reduces physiological stress, the correlation between subjects’ physiological responses and their visual behavior while viewing these gardens had not been investigated.
To address this gap, the study employed an exploratory design using a custom-developed system capable of collecting simultaneous and synchronized measurements of eye gaze and three physiological indicators of autonomic nervous system activity: electrocardiogram (heart rate variability), blood volume pulse, and galvanic skin response (skin conductance level). Healthy participants viewed two environments – a simple empty courtyard and a Japanese garden – presented in two ways: directly and as projected photographs. The 38 participants (11 females, 27 males) were young adults. Gaze behavior was analyzed using metrics including fixation duration, saccade amplitude, spatial entropy, and gaze transition entropy, while physiological responses were measured as changes relative to a baseline period. The dual environment and presentation modality allowed for comparison of responses across different visual stimuli and viewing methods.
