The relationship between natural environments and human cognition has gathered increasing attention across disciplines, including neuroscience, environmental psychology, and public health. An expanding body of empirical evidence supports the notion that exposure to nature consistently promotes psychological and physiological well-being. However, our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying these benefits remains limited. This scoping review synthesizes experimental findings from neuroimaging studies that have examined the effects of natural stimuli on brain function and cognitive-affective processing. Across real-world settings, controlled laboratory environments, and virtual reality, convergent neuroimaging findings from EEG, fMRI, fNIRS, and structural MRI indicate that exposure to natural stimuli is reliably associated with (i) acute reductions in activity within stress-related and self-referential circuits, (ii) shifts toward alpha/theta-dominated and more integrated large-scale network states consistent with attentional restoration, and (iii) longer-term macrostructural and white-matter advantages linked to cognition. While acknowledging heterogeneity, potential confounding, and predominantly correlational designs, these results are starting to delineate candidate neural mechanisms and moderators, which future research should test in preregistered, longitudinal, and mechanistic trials. These results highlight the potential role of natural environments for promoting mental health, with implications for neuroscience and public policy aimed at cultivating human well-being.
Baquedano et al. (Thu,) studied this question.