Psychophysiological Effects of Different Methods of Inducing Restoration Needs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychophysiological effects of different restoration need-inducing methods and the changes in these effects overtime. This study adopted a randomized controlled trial to assign participants (experiment 1: n = 120, experiment 2: n = 90) to four experimental treatments: control, imagined fatigue, the Stroop task and the binary classification task, and the Markus and Peters arithmetic test. We used self-report scales (The Pleasure–Arousal–Dominance emotion scale, The Well-being Measures, and The Restoration Scale) and an attention test (backward digit span) as pre- and posttests, and a physiological measuring device to continually assess participants’ bodily mobilizations. The results showed that the Stroop task and the binary classification task as well as the Markus and Peters arithmetic test more significantly increased the arousal of subjective perception and decreased restoration than the control and imagined fatigue, and the physiological influences of the methods varied overtime with no definitive trend.