Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Traditionally, cognitive neuroscience experimentation has relied on tightly controlled laboratory settings that often lack ecological validity. This study examined whether immersive stereoscopic virtual reality (VR) alters attentional orienting and its neural correlates by embedding a classic Posner cueing task within a three-dimensional environment while recording electroencephalography (EEG). Thirty-five participants completed 2D and VR versions of the task. Behaviorally, the classic cueing effect was observed in both conditions: faster reaction time and higher accuracy for valid trials. However, despite overall slower reaction times in VR, attentional reorienting costs were significantly reduced. Event-related potential analyses revealed no early validity effects on P1 or N1 components, potentially reflecting inhibition of return or increased visual complexity. The P3 component showed larger amplitudes for invalid trials and a posterior topographical shift in VR. These findings suggest that immersive stereoscopic contexts preserve core attentional effects while biasing processing toward more perceptually grounded, bottom-up mechanisms.