Researchers at the University of Vienna have published a new study using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance) that revealed that exposure to scenes of nature, even on a screen, reduced acute physical pain in subjects. The ad hoc international team led by university neuroscientists observed that participants reported less acute physical pain when shown nature scenes than when they sat and saw indoor environments or metropolitan landscapes.
What makes this study remarkable is that the research team not only evaluated the self-reported feedback of the participants’ experience of physical pain, but they also measured the neural correlates of pain perception. “Pain processing is a complex phenomenon,” explained Max Steininger, the study lead and doctoral student at the University of Vienna. “Pain is like a puzzle, some pieces of the puzzle relate to our emotional response to pain while other pieces correspond to the physical signals underlying the painful experience such as its location in the body and its intensity,” Steininger noted.1
The study revealed that subjects not only reported feeling less intense and less unpleasant pain during the nature scenes, but that their neural networks also showed reduced activity in brain regions associated with pain processing. The researchers noted that these results show that nature image-based therapies, as well as environmental design in rehabilitation settings, can be significant contributors to pain management, patient recovery, and rehabilitation protocols.
Nature Scenes Modulate Cortical Networks
Published in the Nature Communications Journal, the study analyzed the brain data from the functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and discovered that even the raw sensory signal the brain receives when the body detects a painful stimulus was weaker. Pain perception integrates various streams of stimuli and correlated memories. We experience it as a unified phenomenon, but scientists exploring its neural correlates have discovered that pain is made up of distinct elements that are processed in separate cortical regions.
“Unlike placebos, which usually change our emotional response to pain, viewing nature changed how the brain processed early, raw sensory signals of pain,” said Mr. Steininger. “The effect appears to be less influenced by participant’s expectations, and more by changes in the underlying pain signals.” 2 According to the field’s current understanding of placebo analgesia, this type of pain relief is the result of the event engaging top-down modulation mechanisms. That means that the placebo effect is cognitively mediated, it appears to rely on higher order brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).3
In turn, these areas of the brain send inhibitory signals down the spinal cord to suppress incoming nociceptive input. On the other hand, viewing nature scenes, even on a television or portable device appears to act at a lower, more perceptual level—reducing activation in the primary somatosensory areas (S1 and S2) and the thalamus, which process raw pain input before it is interpreted emotionally.4
This alternate route relies on direct sensory modulation suggesting that visual exposure to natural patterns (fractal, coherent, dynamic) may entrain or modulate the brain’s sensory gating systems, dampening incoming pain signals before they even reach the cognitive/emotional layers of processing.5 This latest evidence reinforces the preeminent place that walking or even having visual access to healing gardens enjoyed in ancient times.
Hippocrates of Kos (460-370 BC), the father of Western medicine, is credited with emphasizing the healing power of nature and its power to help the body heal itself. In Japan, Shugend Buddhist priests, or Yamabushi, whose origins date back to the eighth century, recognized the sacred essence or spirit in nature, present in mountains, rocks, rivers, and trees. The Yamabushi believed that the purity and harmony present in nature had the power to strip away the toils of a mundane life.6
The Japanese culture’s reverence towards nature also runs through their long tradition in the design of Zen gardens, as well as the modern practice of Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, which was coined by Tomohide Akiyame, a government official at the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 1982. And while much research has uncovered immune-boosting effects of phytoncides, essential oils exuded by certain trees and plants, the pure visual benefits in the fractal patterns prevalent in natural environments have their own salutogenic effect on the way we physically process distress, depression, and pain perception. 7
References
1 Steininger, M.O., White, M.P., Lengersdorff, L. et al. “Nature Exposure Induces Analgesic Effects by Acting on Nociception-Related Neural Processing.” Nature Communications 16, 2037 (2025).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56870-2
2 Ibid.
3 Eippert, F., Finsterbusch, J., Bingel U. and Christian Buchel. “Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia.” Science. 2009, October 16; 326(5951): 404.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1180142
4 OpenAI. “Nociceptive mechanisms involved in placebo versus viewing nature scenes: a scientific literature review.” ChatGPT (Nov. 11 version) [large Language Model] 2025.
5 Ibid.
6 Julia Plevin. “From Haiku to Shinrin-Yoku.” Forest History Society, Spring/Fall issue (2018). https://japanhouse.illinois.edu/education/insights/shinrin-yoku
7 Ibid.
Sky Factory is the only designer of evidence-based, virtual skylights that also provides continuing education courses on the benefits of biophilic design. Our family of Luminous SkyCeilings, OpenView Luminous Virtual Windows, and Digital Cinema applications are biophilic designed products that provide research-verified, architectural solutions for a range of healthcare and commercial spaces. To find out how Sky Factory can bring the healing presence of nature to your organization, contact us today.
