So maybe you walked out of the theater feeling a bit cheated for having paid an extra $8 on top of your regular ticket price just to say that you saw “Mad Max: Fury Road” in 3D. Well, new research suggest that forking over the extra cash for those glasses might actually be doing your brain a favor and help stave off your brain’s aging process.
According to a new report, Neuroscientists Patrick Fagan of Goldsmith University and Professor Brendan Walker of Thrill Laboratory believe that watching a movie in 3D compared with regular 2D provides a temporary boost to your brains cognitive functions. Essentially, choosing to watch “San Andreas” in 3D is like “a neurological energy drink“, brah.
According to Fagan and Walker’s research, the process allows the brain to collect extra information due to the more visceral, immediate nature of 3D viewing that heightens the audience’s mental engagement in areas of the brain related to cognition. The 3D audience saw a brief 23% increase in processing abilities lasting until about 20 minutes after having watched the film, as opposed to 11% increase for the 2D audience.
The researchers believe that the new findings could be applied to brain games to help build up the brain’s strength as people get older and mental capabilities decline. The safe source of stimuli provides a greater level of excitement which in turn stimulates an elevated processing power.
As great as this is for Michael Bay’s marketing of the next “Transformers” movie, there is the nagging issue of headaches and dizziness that many people complain from after watching a 3D movie. Still, it will be interesting to see how the results affect the movie industry’s production of 3D movies in the future. Now, they just need to step up the production quality. Looking at you, “Clash of the Titans.”