The use of fractals and EEG in landscape analysis

Perception studies show a strong human preference for nature, and empirical research shows that reduction of physiological stress is aided by natural environment experience. Until now nature has mostly been defined as amount of vegetation or human induced change. Our work rests on the idea that pattern self-similarity at different scales, measured by the fractal dimension D, is a perceived quality that could explain positive psychological and physiological responses to viewing nature. By employing relatively simple landscape silhouette images, we have been able to demonstrate that patterns with mid fractal dimensions elicit higher visual appreciation, and that differences also exist in the EEG of the brain