Abstract
Contemporary digital work is increasingly shaped by frequent multitasking, which places sustained demands on directed attention. Restorative design theories propose that nature-related cues can support attention recovery, yet it remains unclear whether and how such effects translate to immersive virtual environments. In response to this study, virtual environments with and without nature-related wooden elements were constructed, and 54 subjects were recruited to complete cognitive tasks, eye movement experiments, and questionnaires. The experimental results showed that: (1) the response time of the wood group in the Stroop test was shortened by 15.3%, and the correctness rate of the OSPAN test was increased by 11.3%; the wood elements in the virtual environment could optimize the cognitive processing process, significantly shorten the response time of the cognitive task, and increase the accuracy of working memory. (2) Eye-movement data showed that the wood elements could improve the stability of attention and thus enhance the ability of sustained concentration. The findings of this study provide a reference for the selection of materials based on the principle of psychological recovery for the future design of digital office space.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This work was supported by the Science and Technology Projects in Guizhou Province (Grant No. [2023]274)
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Shunyan, Zhang: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision. Weijie, Pan: Resources, supervision. Jian, Lv: Project administration, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing.
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Zhang, S., Lv, J. & Pan, W. Restorative benefits of nature-related wooden elements in virtual reality settings for visual (eye-tracking) attention, performance, and experience. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45074-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45074-3
