Distinguishing the Promotive Effects of Different Rural Built Environments on Mental Health: An EEG Study

Rural built environments foster a connection with nature and offer significant restorative benefits. Thus, understanding the healing potential of various landscape types is crucial for optimizing rural built environments. However, existing research has insufficiently addressed rural built environments, rarely considering their impact on public mental health. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a photography-based experimental study, utilizing an electroencephalogram (EEG) and the Restorative Components Scale (RCS) to report the effects of three types of rural built environments on individual physiological and psychological activities. The results indicate that: (1) rural built environments exhibit significant psychological health restoration benefits; (2) different types of rural built environments elicit varying physiological responses and psychological states; (3) settlement landscapes provide the highest healing potential, followed by road landscapes, with engineered landscapes showing relatively weaker restorative effects. These findings support the perspective in environmental psychology that natural and well-designed rural built environments can effectively enhance restoration. Furthermore, this study provides an empirical foundation for future urban and rural planning and design, highlighting the importance of rural built environments in improving residents' mental health and well-being.