Flouri, E;
Papachristou, E;
Midouhas, E;
(2018)
The role of neighbourhood greenspace in children's spatial working memory.
British Journal of Educational Psychology
10.1111/bjep.12243.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Exposure to nature may be particularly beneficial for the brain regions that support spatial working memory, a strong correlate of academic achievement. AIMS: To explore whether children living in greener neighbourhoods (wards) have better spatial working memory. SAMPLE: Drawn from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study, the sample was 4,758 11-year-olds living in urban areas in England. METHODS: We fitted two-level regression models, with children nested in wards, before and after adjustment for confounders, including poverty, parental education, sports participation, neighbourhood deprivation, and neighbourhood history. Spatial working memory was measured using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery Spatial Working Memory task. Greenspace was measured as the percentage of greenery in the child's ward. RESULTS: Even after controlling for confounders, lower quantity of neighbourhood greenspace was related to poorer spatial working memory. Importantly, neighbourhood deprivation did not modify this relationship. Therefore, lower quantity of greenspace was related to poorer spatial working memory similarly in deprived and non-deprived neighbourhoods. CONCLUSIONS: Children living in greener urban neighbourhoods have better spatial working memory. If this association is causal, then our findings can be used to inform policy decisions about both education and urban planning.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The role of neighbourhood greenspace in children's spatial working memory |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/bjep.12243 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12243 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Children, greenspace, neighbourhood, neighbourhood deprivation, spatial working memory |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10056802 |
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