Neurophysiological assessment of restorative benefits in forest-rural landscapes: EEG responses to real-world and virtual environments

With the increasing prominence of mental health issues among humans, the restorative benefits of natural environments have garnered widespread attention. As a typical high-restorative living environment, the forest village plays a significant role in generating positive restorative effects. Previous studies have mainly explored the simple correlations between environmental characteristics and psychological or physiological indicators, while the differences in restorative benefits between virtual and real environments have not yet been systematically quantified within a unified experimental framework. This study employs electroencephalography (EEG) technology through a dual-modal experiment of virtual reality (VR) observation and real-world experience to quantify the neurophysiological impacts of forest village environments on psychological restoration. Based on structural equation modeling analysis, it reveals the causal relationships between environmental characteristics and brainwave activity. Using national forest villages as case examples, EEG data were collected from participants with the eego™ mylab device. Combining restorative evaluation and environmental preference scales, the study comprehensively analyzes the “psychological–physiological” response mechanisms underlying the restorative benefits of typical sample environments. The results show that the forest village environment significantly enhances α wave power (real-world group: 0.351; VR group: 0.314; p < 0.05) and suppresses excessive β wave activity (real-world group: −0.242; VR group: −0.213; p < 0.05), confirming its neural mechanisms in stress alleviation and relaxation promotion. Environmental preference indirectly regulates brainwave activity through restorative evaluation, with “mystery” showing the highest explanatory power (real-world group standardized factor loading λ = 0.847, explanatory power λ 2 = 71.7%; VR group λ = 0.821, λ 2 = 67.4%). This study proposes an interdisciplinary framework and dynamic feedback pathway of “environmental preference–psychological evaluation–neural response.” It not only provides neuroscientific evidence for the restorative benefits of forest village environments and promotes a data-driven transformation in environmental psychology, but also offers new insights into the design of ecological wellness scenarios and the development of remote environmental healing systems. • Quantified the neurophysiological effects of forest village environments using EEG. • Introduced VR technology for comparing real-world and virtual environment restoration. • Revealed how environmental features like “mystery” and “legibility” influence brainwaves. • Developed an interdisciplinary framework linking environmental preference with neural responses.