Media-based nature exposure and negative psychological states: effects of natural environment videos on attentional bias and valence perception

Exposure to natural environments has well-documented benefits for emotion regulation and cognitive functioning. However, whether media-based nature exposure is similarly associated with negative psychological states and the emotional-processing mechanisms potentially involved remains unclear. Using one survey study and two experimental studies, we examined the associations between media-based nature exposure, negative psychological states, and emotional information processing at two temporal scales: habitual exposure to nature-related media content and brief experimental exposure to nature videos. Study 1 used an online survey to examine the associations of perceived real-world greenness and the frequency of nature-related media exposure with negative psychological states. Study 2 employed a dot-probe task to assess attentional bias toward emotional faces after participants viewed natural environment videos. Study 3 used a valence-evaluation task to examine changes in the perceived valence of emotional faces following video exposure. The results showed that (1) greater perceived real-world greenness and more frequent media-based nature exposure were associated with lower levels of negative psychological states; (2) attentional bias toward negative faces was lower after exposure to natural environment videos than after exposure to the neutral video; and (3) valence ratings of neutral and positive faces were more positive following exposure to natural environment videos, whereas ratings of negative faces did not differ significantly between the two video conditions. Overall, these findings provide preliminary evidence that media-based nature exposure may be associated with negative psychological states and emotional information processing.