Effects of visual exposure to natural (vs. Built) environments on delay discounting and demand for substances: Preliminary evidence and future directions.

Abstract

Substance use disorders affect millions of people and can be difficult to treat, warranting novel therapeutic approaches. Simultaneously, well-established findings demonstrate beneficial effects of nature exposure for mental health, including substance use disorder comorbidities (e.g., anxiety), and emerging evidence suggests that nature exposure could impact decision making associated with harmful substance use. Across two within-subject experiments (Experiment 1: Amazon Mechanical Turk, n = 170, Experiment 2: college students, laboratory setting, n = 29), we evaluated the effects of visual exposure to natural versus built environment stimuli on delay discounting and demand for a substance among individuals who frequently use substances. Experiment 1 results showed that for subsets of participants, under certain conditions, visual exposure to natural compared with built environment stimuli reduced delay discounting and demand for cannabis, with medium effect sizes, but not for alcohol or cigarettes. Order effects emerged, demonstrating within-subject lower delay discounting following visual exposure to natural (vs. built) stimuli, when nature was presented second and lower demand for cannabis when presented first. Acknowledging sample size limitations, Experiment 2 results showed reduced demand for alcohol, with a large effect size, following visual exposure to natural (vs. built) stimuli, and no effect on delay discounting or demand for cannabis. Results contribute preliminary evidence of the beneficial effects of visual nature exposure on substance use-related decision-making outcomes among individuals who regularly use substances. We further discuss methodological challenges. Results hold implications for future research with clinical populations to develop and validate real nature prescription guidelines as prevention or adjunct to substance use disorder treatment programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).