The feeling of awe and planetary connection experienced by astronauts observing Earth from low space orbit is known as the “overview effect,” a term coined by Frank White, the author of numerous books on space exploration and science. Now researchers from Northeastern University have documented a similar cognitive shift among aquanauts, people who live and work under the sea, which they are calling the “underview effect.”
Sharing that sense of wonder and kinship with nature with the public could be key to helping understand and conserve the ocean environment, according to the research published in Environment & Behavior, an interdisciplinary journal on relationships between environments and human behavior. “We’re at this juncture where we’re realizing that a business-as-usual approach to how we interact with nature and especially the ocean is just not going to cut it,” said Brian Helmuth, marine and environmental studies professor at Northeastern and one of the authors of the study.
