Research has consistently shown differences in affect and cognition after exposure to different physical environments. The time course of these differences emerging or fading during exploration of environments is less explored, as most studies measure dependent variables only before and after environmental exposure. In this within-subject study, we used repeated surveys to measure differences in thought content and affect throughout a 1-h environmental exploration of a nature conservatory and a large indoor mall. At each survey, participants reported on aspects of their most recent thoughts (e.g., thinking of the present moment vs. the future; thinking positively vs. negatively) and state affect. Using Bayesian multi-level models, we found that while visiting the conservatory, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the past, more positive and exciting thoughts, and higher feelings of positive affect and creativity. In the mall, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the future and higher feelings of impulsivity. Many of these differences in environments were present throughout the 1-h walk, however some differences were only evident at intermediary time points, indicating the importance of collecting data during exploration, as opposed to only before and after environmental exposures. We also measured cognitive performance with a dual n-back task. Results on 2-back trials replicated results from prior work that interacting with nature leads to improvements in working-memory performance. This study furthers our understanding of how thoughts and feelings are influenced by the surrounding physical environment and has implications for the design and use of public spaces.

研究一致表明，在暴露于不同的物理环境后，情感和认知存在差异。在环境探索过程中出现或消失的这些差异的时间过程很少被探索，因为大多数研究仅在环境暴露之前和之后测量因变量。在这项主题内研究中，我们使用重复调查来衡量在自然温室和大型室内购物中心的 1 小时环境探索中思想内容和影响的差异。在每次调查中，参与者都报告了他们最近的想法（例如，思考现在与未来；积极思考与消极思考）和状态影响。使用贝叶斯多层次模型，我们发现在参观温室时，参与者更有可能报告对过去的想法，更积极和令人兴奋的想法，以及更高的积极情感和创造力。在商场里，参与者更有可能报告对未来的想法和更高的冲动感。在整个 1 小时的步行过程中，这些环境差异中的许多都存在，但是一些差异仅在中间时间点很明显，这表明在探索期间收集数据的重要性，而不是仅在环境暴露之前和之后。我们还用双重 n-back 任务测量了认知表现。2-back 试验的结果复制了先前工作的结果，这些工作与自然互动会导致工作记忆性能的提高。