Leaving the third dimension: no measurable evidence for cognitive aftereffects of stereoscopic 3D movies
Klaas Bombeke, Jan VAN LOOY, Arnaud Szmalec, Wouter Duyck · Journal of the Society for Information Display · 2013
Abstract 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. 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) that focused on possible aftereffects on visual attention also failed to find reliable effects. We therefore conclude that cognitive functioning is not altered by watching an S‐3D movie, at least not to an extent that is measurable through well‐established cognitive tasks.