Leaving the third dimension: no measurable evidence for cognitive aftereffects of stereoscopic 3D movies
Stereoscopic 3D (S-3D) is becoming an increasingly important display technology. Parallel to this, concern about the potential negative effects of exposure to S-3D movies has been growing. Some manufacturers place disclaimers on their TVs advising people to limit the time they watch S-3D. However, surprisingly little experimental research has been conducted estimating the genuineness of these concerns. Therefore, an experiment was designed to assess the potential impact of viewing an S-3D movie on visual, spatial, and general attention performance. In order to mimic the real-world experience of watching a movie in the living room, participants (N = 61) watched a full movie in either 2D or S-3D. Our results do not show evidence for cognitive aftereffects of S-3D movies. A second experiment (N = 32) which focused on possible aftereffects on visual attention also failed to find reliable effects.
We therefore conclude that cognitive functioning is not altered by watching a S-3D movie, at least not to an extent that is measurable through well-established cognitive tasks.
This paper was authored by Klaas Bombeke, Jan Van Looy, Arnaud Szmalec and Wouter Duyck. A copy of this paper can be downloaded here.
