When solving problems involving human-environment interactions, whether global or local, one must have a model of human nature that predicts the environmental conditions under which humans will behave in a decent and creative manner. The field develops such a model of human nature while retaining a broad and inherently multidisciplinary focus. It explores such dissimilar issues as common property resource management, wayfinding in complex settings, the effect of environmental stress on human performance, the characteristics of restorative environments, human information processing, and the promotion of durable conservation behavior. Restoring and enhancing people s capacity to voluntarily direct their attention is a major factor in maintaining human effectiveness. How people image the natural and built environment has been an interest of this field from its beginning.
Information is stored in the brain as spatial networks called cognitive maps.
These structures link one s recall of experiences with perception of present events, ideas and emotions. It is through these neural networks that humans know and think about the environment, plan and carry out their plans. Interestingly, what humans know about an environment is both more than external reality in that they perceive with prior knowledge and expectations, and less than external reality in that they record only a portion of the entire visual frame yet recall it as complete and continuous. Preferred environments People tend to seek out places where they feel competent and confident, places where they can make sense of the environment while also being engaged with it. Preserving, restoring and creating a preferred environment is thought to increase sense of well being and behavioral effectiveness in humans.