Evidence for Rapid Affective Evaluation of Environmental Scenes

The authors employed an affective priming paradigm to provide direct evidence for the rapid evaluation of natural and urban environments suggested in evolutionary models of environmental perception and restoration. Pictures classified as urban and nature environments differing in restorative and affective quality were presented as prime stimuli. They were followed by presentations of human vocal expressions of joy, anger, and emotional neutrality as target stimuli. The participants were required to judge the vocal one-word expressions and produce a forced-choice reaction between joy and anger. The reaction times to vocal expressions of anger were shorter after the presentation of urban scenes associated with low restorative potential and negative affect than after nature scenes associated with high restorative potential and positive affect. The reaction times to vocal expressions of joy were shorter after the presentation of a nature scene than of an urban environment. The results provide support for the rapid and automatic affective evaluations of environmental scenes.