How Spending Time in Real or Virtual Nature Affects Older Adults’ Executive Functioning: An RBANS Analysis
Category: Research Poster
Author(s): Carrie Kipp
Presenter(s): Carrie Kipp
Mentors(s): Sara LoTemplio
Nature exposure is understood to improve cognitive functioning and reduce stress in younger populations, but older populations are less well studied in this regard. There is also little understanding on if virtual reality nature exposure has similar effects on cognitive function as real world nature exposure. This study investigated the effects on cognitive functioning and stress recovery for older adults who experienced real-world nature, outdoor control, indoor control, and virtual reality nature conditions. Cognitive function was measured with the Repetitive Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) task, which was administered three times for each participant. The goal of this analysis was to compare and contrast different environments’ effects on cognitive function and stress recovery in older adults.