Attention allocation to 2D and 3D emotion-inducing scenes: A neurophysiological study

•It is unclear if 3D emotional scenes are effective in capturing attention.•Dual-tasks (2D and 3D) reduced the P3 amplitude compared to the standard oddball.•2D was as effective in capturing attention as 3D.•This effect was observed in all emotional scenes (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral). Past research on emotions was mostly supported on emotion inducing slides, but studies in the field are moving towards more ecological stimuli, including 3D stimuli and virtual reality scenes. The present study aims to compare the effects of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) emotion-inducing scenes in the modulation of attention, as indexed by the amplitude of the P3 event-related component in a dual-task paradigm. We recorded the EEG signal of 31 healthy male participants performing an active auditory oddball task, while simultaneously observing pleasant, unpleasant and neutral scenes in 2D or 3D. We analyzed the effects of emotional valence and visualization mode in the mean amplitude of the P3 component at Pz. The results revealed than revealed that 2D scenarios were as effective as 3D stimuli in capturing attention resources and this effect was consistently observed in all emotional scenes.