Cross-cultural comparison of physiological and psychological responses to different garden styles

Abstract Previous studies have focused mostly on distinguishing between the benefits of spending time in natural spaces compared to urban spaces, but less is known about the restorative potential of gardens. The goal of this study is to investigate the physiological and psychological effects of viewing different garden styles on 57 university students from two countries (Japan and Canada). Three gardens with different styles, landscape, Japanese and architectural gardens located in Vancouver, Canada were used as the test sites. The participants' eye movements and heart rate variability were assessed while they were viewing each garden. After viewing each garden, the participants filled out a semantic differential questionnaire. We found that the Japanese garden attracted more fixations, but fixation durations varied among the garden styles. Extra fixation duration on a particular garden might be correlated with the detailed analysis of the garden’s elements. The mean HF data which reflected parasympathetic nervous activity increased on viewing the landscape garden. In addition, the participants were likely to choose the landscape garden as the most natural-looking. The results suggest that visual perception of gardens is not an isolated or uniform cognitive mechanism, but rather one that interacts with biological and cultural processes. To encourage the utilization of gardens as a resource for promoting wellbeing in urban spaces, further scientific evidence and collaboration among experts in the relevant fields is urgently needed.