Gazzaley proposed they use EEG—electroencephalography—to
measure brain waves, specifically one called frontal midline theta,
which his lab has found to be a reliable measure of executive-center
engagement. If it quiets down in nature, that could be evidence of
what he experienced on the trail: less top-down, and more bottom-up,
less executive network, more default network. It would indicate a rest
break for the frontal lobes.
“I love it!” Gazzaley said.
They discussed the complications: Strayer prefers field data and
not lab data. He wanted people wearing the caps in real nature, not
just looking at pictures of it in an air-conditioned room. But Kramer
and Gazzaley prefer the controlled environment of the lab. Kramer
would leave Moab with a plan to study whether creativity differed for
people walking on a lab treadmill looking at virtual-reality city
images versus nature images. I made a note to check back.
“It is messy, no doubt about it,” said Strayer of working outside.
“You can study this in the lab, but for the effects to be there, you have
to be in nature. People said we couldn’t measure the effects of driving
and distraction in the real world, because there are so many variables,
but we did it.” Strayer would leave with several experiment ideas: a
walking study in an arboretum measuring creativity, and another
using the EEG on a group in the wilderness. This I would have to see.
Gazzaley had a plan for yet another study. Nature, he saw from his
own Kaplanesque moment of “flow” out on the trail, could be useful.
It could improve not the way we enjoy nature but the way we use
technology. “My practical desire is to understand how to maximize
our brains,” he said. “If I’m going to build software to enhance
cognition, what if I routinely inserted recovery periods in virtual
nature? I’m a fitness buff. You have to rest between sets. Everyone
knows you can’t just blast your brain for hours with video games or
you get diminishing returns. Are all breaks equal? I’m going to try
nature.”