Investigation of Online Cerebral Indices of Cognitive Restoration by Nature Exposure

Attention is a key process to many daily tasks but it is characterized by limited resources. In many high-stake domains, operators must perform complex tasks for long durations, which deplete attentional resources and promote error making. Yet, previous studies have shown that exposure to nature stimuli can help recovering those resources. The current project aims at investigating the cerebral mechanisms underpinning the restoration of attention by nature stimuli by collecting different measures of attentional fatigue and examining how nature exposure can impact them. This represents a first step toward developing a system capable of determining one’s level of attentional fatigue using different biomarkers and of presenting restorative interventions as a countermeasure to help operators recovering their attentional resources. This project will contribute to expand research on cognitive enhancement and will open new opportunities for Thales to develop user-tailored decision-support systems relevant to aviation, defence, security and transportation use cases.

Faculty Supervisor:

François Vachon

Student:

Partner:

Thales Canada Inc

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Information and Communications Technology; Technology

University:

Université Laval

Program: