There is no significant difference in emotional reactions between 3-D and 2-D films, according to a recent study.

Researchers from the University of Utah found that as an entertainment medium, 3-D films may not provide a different experience from 2-D films, insofar as evoking emotional responses go. The study aimed to validate the effectiveness of 3-D film, a newer technology, as compared to 2-D film that is currently widely used as a research tool.

The increased visual realism of 3-D films is believed to offer viewers a more vivid and lifelike experience-more thrilling and intense than 2-D because it more closely approximates real life.

"We set out to learn whether technological advances like 3-D enhance the study of emotion, especially for young patients who are routinely exposed to high-tech devices and mediums in their daily lives," researcher Sheila Crowell said in a statement. "Both 2-D and 3-D are equally effective at eliciting emotional responses, which also may mean that the expense involved in producing 3-D films is not creating much more than novelty. Further studies are of course warranted, but our findings should be encouraging to researchers who cannot now afford 3-D technologies."

For the study, researchers looked at several measures of emotional state in 408 subjects, including palm sweat, breathing and cardiovascular responses, such as heart rate. These measures are commonly used to gauge emotional responses.

Four film clips were chosen because each prompted one discrete emotion intensely and in context without viewing the entire film. Study participants viewed a 3-D and 2-D clip of approximately five minutes of each film: "My Bloody Valentine" (fear), "Despicable Me" (amusement), "Tangled" (sadness) and "The Polar Express" (thrill or excitement). Participants were randomized to view the films in a design that balanced the pairs of films watched, in which format, and order of presentation.

Researchers found that the participants' individual differences in anxiety, inability to control emotional responses or "thrill seeking" did not alter the psychological or physiological responses to 3-D viewing.

"This could be good news for people who would rather not wear 3-D glasses or pay the extra money to see these types of films," Cromwell said.

The findings were recently published in the journal PLOS ONE.