STAGE-SPECIFIC REORGANIZATION OF POSTERIOR AND FRONTO-CENTRAL NEURAL MARKERS OF ATTENTION IN AN IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENT

Spatial attention is commonly studied using 2-dimensional (2D) screen-based cueing paradigms, yet it remains unclear how attentional mechanisms operate in more immersive environments. In this study, neural engagement was compared in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment and a 2D environment. Attentional effects were examined during an endogenous cueing task, using the posterior P2 and fronto-central N2 components, which are associated with early evaluative processing and attentional control, respectively. In the 2D condition, invalid target-locked event-related potentials displayed a significant posterior P2 enhancement relative to valid targets, indexing classic early attentional reorienting effects. In contrast, the posterior P2 validity effect was notably reduced in VR, such that P2 amplitudes no longer differentiated valid and invalid trials. Importantly, this decrease was not paired with an increased P2 expression at frontal or fronto-central sites, indicating a change in the spatial expression of early attentional processing rather than a redistribution across the scalp. Examination of the N2 component revealed a global reduction in amplitude in VR across both valid and invalid trials, with no evidence of selective validity modulation. Together, this adds evidence that immersive environments reorganize attentional processing in a component specific manner. This study demonstrates that attentional reorienting in 2D utilizes classic posterior evaluative mechanisms, whereas immersive viewing weakens the differentiation between valid and invalid targets of early posterior processes and diminishes overall fronto-central control engagement. These findings suggest that immersive environments change how early attentional signals are expressed at later evaluative and control stages, without disrupting basic sensory processing.