Attending to Past Outdoor Recreation Experiences: Symptom Reporting and Changes in Affect

Changes in affect and physical symptom reporting were compared across four treatment conditions: recollection of a passive and active outdoor recreation experience, recollection of a past classroom exam, and an autogenic relaxation method. Results from 44 participants in a laboratory experiment demonstrate that recreation recollections have the potential for use as a guided imagery technique by promoting positive affect, reducing negative affect and decreasing symptom reporting. Support for two information processing theories, Pennebaker's (1982) "Competition of Cues" and the Kaplans' (1989) "Experience of Nature," was found. Perceived health benefits were greatest when attention was involuntary (versus directed) and focused on external (versus internal) stimuli. Implications of recreation recollections for therapeutic recreation and benefitsbased management are discussed.KEYWORDS: outdoor recreation, recollection, information processing, affect, physical health symptoms, therapeutic recreation, benefits-based managementIntroductionAttending to past outdoor recreation experiences involves the recollection of information about past leisure behavior and events that has previously been stored in memory. Although there have been few empirical studies of recreation recollections, recently Tarrant, Manfredo and Driver (1994) reported lower autonomic arousal during, and improved mood immediately following, the recall of past recreation experiences relative to the recollection of an exam event. The current study extends the earlier work of Tarrant et al. (1994) by examining perceived benefits (reductions in physical health symptoms and changes in affect) associated with the recollection of outdoor recreation experiences. To examine potential benefits, the effects of recreation recollections are compared with those evoked from a traditional stress management technique known as autogenic relaxation. The influence of two coping resources (social and physical escape) on the effects of recreation recollections is also explored.Two models, both rooted in information processing theory, suggest outdoor recreation recollections may produce beneficial effects. The first, Kaplan and Kaplan's work on "The Experience of Nature" (1989), contends that nature has a restorative capability (i.e., to reduce mental fatigue) by fostering involuntary attention. The second, Pennebaker's "Competition of Cues" hypothesis (1982), proposes that outdoor environments direct attention toward external stimuli and hence away from internal (bodily) sensations.The Experience of NatureThe Kaplans (1989) argue that interactions with nature facilitate restoration by providing recovery from the mental fatigue caused by excessive directed attention. In contrast to involuntary attention which arises with diverse and interesting environments, directed (or voluntary) attention occurs when the external environment lacks stimulation and complexity. While it has been shown that excessive external stimulation may cause psychological overload (Bexton, Heron & Scott, 1954) and too little may lead to boredom and stress (see Hubbard, 1992), there is evidence to suggest that people have a strong preference to view diversity in natural scenes (U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 1980). Furthermore, not only are interactions with nature often pleasurable but they also provide the opportunity for temporary escape from the demands and stresses of everyday life (Hartig, Mang & Evans, 1991; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989). Other work also suggests that nature may have a therapeutic value by providing positive distractions (Ulrich, Dimberg & Driver, 1991). In studies of hospital patients (Ulrich, 1981, 1984) and office employees (Kaplan, Talbot & Kaplan, 1988), for example, window views of nature have been shown to increase positive feelings, lower stress, and improve physical conditions.Competition of CuesBased on the assumption that people will only process a finite amount of information at any one time, Pennebaker (1982) proposes that internal and external sources of information compete for attention; i. …