Your Therapy Source Magazine for Pediatric Therapists December 2015 | Page 4

Going Outdoors to Improve Attention Span

The Journal of Attention Disorders published research on the benefits of walking in a park to
increase attention span. A small group of 17 children with ADHD, participated in a study
comparing walks in a park, downtown and a neighborhood. The walks in the park resulted in a
significant difference in concentration as scored on the Digit Span Backwards (DSB).
The article also discusses Attention Restoration Theory (ART). The basics of this theory is that
interacting with nature results in a type of restoration for the body and the brain. Try to
remember a recent event when you spent time outdoors in a natural environment. You may
walk slowly and attend to all of your visual surroundings – a bird chirping, a sunset, the green
grass of Spring. When you return indoors, you feel relaxed and calm. Now to try to remember
that last time you were outdoors in a busier environment, perhaps a city. Your attention may
be focused on planning when to cross a street, avoiding cars and other city obstacles. These
two environments rely on your brain to use two different types of attention – involuntary and
voluntary. Concentrating on topics that interest you or something that grabs your attention
involves involuntary attention. Concentrating on blocking out distractions to focus on the topic
at hand involves voluntary attention (which can fatigue easily). When the brain experiences
involuntary attention it allows voluntary attention to rest and recover.
The authors of this study question whether children with ADHD experience deficits in voluntary
attention resulting in the fluctuating attention span that you see in children with ADHD.
Therefore, the Attention Restoration Theory when applied to children with and without ADHD

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