Year: 2022
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objectives: People have a preference for, and feel better in, beautiful natural environments. However, there are no epidemiological studies on the association between exposure to neighborhood beauty and neuroimaging measures, such as regional brain volume. This study aimed to determine association between subjective and objective neighborhood beauty and regional brain volume. Method: Participants were 476 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years from the 2017 Neuron to Environmental Impact across Generations (NEIGE) study. Subjective neighborhood beauty was measured using a self-rated questionnaire, which assessed participants’ perception of beautiful scenery within 1 km of their home. Objective measures of neighborhood beauty (green spaces, blue spaces, and plant diversity) within 1 km of participants’ homes were obtained using a geographic information system. Volumes of brain regions associated with experience of beauty were measured using magnetic resonance imaging. We estimated associations between subjective and objective neighborhood beauty and regional brain volume using linear regression. Results: Of participants, 42% rated their neighborhoods as very beautiful, and 17% rated them as not at all beautiful. Higher subjective neighborhood beauty was associated with larger bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortex and insula volumes (all p for trend <0.01). Brain volume was not associated with objective neighborhood beauty measures. Discussion: Subjective but not objective neighborhood beauty was associated with brain regions related to emotion, rewards, and decision making, suggesting that these brain regions underpin the perception of neighborhood beauty.
Source: Research Square
Language: English
Topic: Urban Green Space and Health
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Effects of community wide intervention to promote physical activity: a cluster randomized controlled trial and a social implementation study, Association between Intensity-Specific Physical Activity Measured by Accelerometer and Cognitive Function and Hippocampal Volume among Community-Dwelling Older Adults., Detailed pattern of physical activity/sedentary behavior and cognitive decline among older adults: a cohort study, Do Beautiful Places Bring Health? A Comprehensive Understanding of Environmental Beauty and Brain Regions, Extracting features of neuroimaging in pychiatric disorders using machine learning and multicenter datasets, Associations of cooking skills with child dietary behaviors and health, G6633700128, G7454093343, Study of life-course factors and social and physical environments to prevent dementia, Community-wide intervention to promote physical activity: cluster randomized trial and dissemination study
OpenAlex ID: W4283264821