Fractal patterns cut
stress, scientist says
By Richard L. Hill
Reproduced with permission of NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
May 10, 2004
Physicist Richard Taylor
of the University of Oregon says such fractal patterns, found in nature and
in art, seem to reduce stress. He is leading an international team of
scientists that has found exposure to these patterns can lessen a person's
stress levels by as much as 60 percent.
If additional research
supports his findings, Taylor says fractal images may be used one day to
calm people in such high-stress environments as space flight, hospitals,
dentists' offices and prisons.
"One in four people
report being overstressed at work, and the United States spends $300 billion
annually on stress-related illnesses," Taylor said. "So there's the
possibility fractal images may be a practical and novel way of addressing
this issue."
Fractals, which contain
similar shapes repeated at different scales, are common in nature. For
example, a fern is fractal because each frond is composed of sub-fronds,
each a miniature but not necessarily identical copy of the whole.
These irregular geometric
patterns also can be seen in clouds, snowflakes, lightning, waves,
coastlines, rugged mountains and the human body.
Taylor has received
widespread attention in the past few years for his finding that the
seemingly haphazard drip paintings of Pollock, a famed abstract artist,
captured nature's fractals. Taylor's findings have been published in
prestigious journals and magazines, including Nature and
Scientific American.
The analysis of Pollock's
paintings led Taylor to begin investigating how people respond to the visual
characteristics of fractals. His latest research, with collaborators at the
University of Oregon, Washington State University and in England, Australia
and Sweden, used two experiments with more than 350 participants.
One experiment tests a
person's perception of fractals by flashing images on a screen. In the
other, people were tested to find out whether visually appealing fractal
images trigger a physiological response. They wore fingertip electrodes to
measure changes in the skin's ability to conduct electricity in response to
stimuli such as stress or anxiety.
Participants were given a
series of mental tasks to deliberately cause stress, such as math problems.
Visually appealing fractal images such as scenes of clouds and Pollock
paintings then were placed in the background.
"What we found is that
these images can reduce their stress levels by 60 percent," Taylor said.
"The great thing is that this was environmental exposure – the person was
never told to stare at the fractal images. So there is a possibility that we
could subtly put these kinds of images in various environments that could
trigger this huge reduction in stress levels for people."
