Does increasing biodiversity in an urban woodland setting promote positive emotional responses in humans? A stress recovery experiment using 360-degree videos of an urban woodland

Perceived level of biodiversity Perceptions of the biodiversity shown in the videos showed an overall significant effect on both Negative and Positive Affect scores (NA p = 0.03; PA p < 0.005, Table 3). Post hoc tests showed that those who deemed the environment as “very good” for biodiversity had overall lower NA scores than those who rated it “neutral or bad” (p = 0.048) and overall higher PA scores than those who rated the environment “neutral or bad” (p = 0.008) or “good” (p = 0.001). The greatest reductions in NA between the post-stress and post-video stages were associated with those respondents who thought the sites were ‘good’ or ‘very good’ in terms of biodiversity (Fig 4, Left). Conversely, PA scores continued to decrease after the video for those who considered the environment “bad or neutral”, but PA increased in those who thought the environment was “very good” in biodiversity (Fig 4, Right). Appreciating individual elements of nature A large number of participants (208 individuals—59%) commented on their perceptions of biodiversity and natural features after watching the videos. Sounds were mentioned most fre- quently (N = 55, including wind, water and birds), then flowers (N = 35) and trees (N = 33) (S1 Appendix). There was little overall difference in both Affect scores between those who mentioned noticing the flowers and the rest of the participants (NA p = 0.79; PA p = 0.19, Table 3). How- ever, there was a significant interaction (p = 0.005) for Positive Affect. Those individuals who

specifically commented about the flowers reported enhanced Positive Affect scores after watching the videos (Fig 5). Since all those who provided comments also perceived the Fig 3. Mean Negative Affect (Left) and Positive Affect (Right) scores by condition group at the three stages of the procedure. Means without common letters are statistically different at p<0.05. Error bars represent +/- 1 standard error. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297179.g003 PLOS ONE Does increasing biodiversity in an urban woodland setting, promote positive emotional responses in humans? PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297179 February 7, 2024 10 / 20