Elementary School Students Exposed to Nature and Vegetation Tended to Perform Better on Cognitive Tests

Here’s a good reason to let your kids swing from trees and play in the dirt: Elementary school students who were exposed to more nature and vegetation tended to perform better on cognitive tests, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Past research has shown a link between exposure to green spaces and better mental health and lower levels of anxiety and depression. Studies have also shown that taking nature walks or looking at images of natural sites can enhance adults’ attention spans, but this is the first study to test the association with better cognitive development, the authors said.

Being Around Greenery Boosts Memory Performance

Conducted between 2012 and 2013 in Barcelona, Spain, the study involved 2,623 children from 36 schools who were given memory tests at the beginning of the year and then once every three months for the remainder of the year. The researchers categorized children based on how much green space surrounded their homes, commutes, and school grounds. Based on this data, they created a total score for how much greenery the students encountered every day.

Children exposed to more greenery had higher scores on tests of working memory than kids who spent less time around nature. By the final test, children who encountered more greenery scored 15 points higher than those who encountered less.

The authors noted that the positive effects of being around greenery may be enhanced, in part, by decreased exposure to air and noise pollution, factors that have been associated with poorer cognitive development and outcomes.

Future research, they said, should focus on the effect of green spaces on preschool children as well, and even potentially on how maternal exposure to nature affects prenatal development.

More Green Spaces Could Help Underperforming Kids

Creating more green spaces around schools would improve cognitive performance in around 8.8 percent of children who currently have low scores on tests of working memory, the authors said.

For almost half the world’s population, which is exposed to fewer nature sites and more air and noise pollutants, the authors said, planning for more green spaces could improve the lives (and thinking skills) of future generations.

---Alex Catalan, in Neurology Now, 7 July, 2015---