Saturday, February 5, 2011

Scientists Find Viewing Fractals Has Soothing Effect

Earlier today I was surfing around the internet and stumbled upon an interesting article from 2006 about scientists studying fractal recognition and the physiological effects of viewing fractal images. This backs up my claim that fractals, like mandalas, are wonderful to use in meditation (see my earlier post, How to Use Mandalas and Fractals to Meditate).

Here's an excerpt from the aforementioned article:

"Imagine working in a windowless building, cut off from the soothing sight of clouds blowing across the sky or leaves rustling in the wind, as another deadline looms. Feeling stressed, you look up at the wall and see a strange but somehow pleasing pattern etched into its surface. You feel better.

That's the kind of future that University of Oregon physicist Richard Taylor imagines, and now he's working with other scientists at the UO and other universities around the world in hopes of realizing it. They're studying patterns known as fractals in an effort to understand why and how certain ones seem to give people a mental boost."

Read the entire article here. (The article was originally published in the Register Guard, but appears to no longer be online at that location.)
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