Academic Journal
The Unity Playback System: A tool for visualizing behavioral data in 3D Unity virtual environments.
| Τίτλος: | The Unity Playback System: A tool for visualizing behavioral data in 3D Unity virtual environments. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Marshall XJ; Cognitive Science Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA. xmarshall.dev@gmail.com., Powell NV; Cognitive Science Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA.; Center for Perceptual Systems, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA., Fajen BR; Cognitive Science Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA. |
| Πηγή: | Behavior research methods [Behav Res Methods] 2026 Aug 18; Vol. 58 (9). Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Aug 18. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101244316 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1554-3528 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 1554351X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Behav Res Methods Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: 2010- : New York : Springer Original Publication: Austin, Tex. : Psychonomic Society, c2005- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Virtual Reality* , User-Computer Interface*, Humans ; Eye-Tracking Technology ; Motion Capture ; Eye Movements |
| Περίληψη: | The use of virtual environments, display technology, and eye tracking in behavioral studies has become more widespread in recent years as a result of drops in hardware cost and improvements in hardware mobility. Some studies of human behavior are conducted in 3D virtual environments created using tools such as the Unity game engine and open-source Unity Experiment Framework. However, the raw data from eye trackers, motion capture systems, and input devices (e.g., computer mouse, game controller, steering wheel/foot pedal system) are often noisy and difficult to validate and interpret without visualization. Such visualizations are best implemented in the context of the original environment, but manual implementation to verify experimental results can significantly stall data analysis. To address these issues, we created a generic experimental playback system for Unity that is capable of replaying the frame-by-frame state of the environment without leaving the engine. This GUI-based tool, which we call the Unity Playback System (UPBS) includes options for creating customized visualizations of the behavior of human subjects from different perspectives. We demonstrate the utility of this tool in the context of a simple virtual block stacking task as well as a more complex visually guided steering task, and we discuss how it can facilitate the analysis of gaze data collected in 3D virtual environments. (© 2026. The Psychonomic Society, Inc.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declarations. Conflicts of interest/Competing interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest. Ethics approval: No new data were collected for this study. Data from Powell et al. (2024) were used to create Fig. 3 and Movies 5 and 6. The experiments in Powell et al. were performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the RPI Institutional Review Board under Protocol #2019. Consent to participate: No new data were collected for this study. Data from Powell et al. (2024) were used to create Fig. 3 and Movies 5 and 6. Subjects in Powell et al. gave written consent before participating. Consent for publication: No new data were collected for this study. Data from Powell et al. (2024) were used to create Fig. 3 and Movies 5 and 6. Subjects in Powell et al. gave written consent for reporting anonymized data from the study. |
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| Grant Information: | NSF BCS 2218220 National Science Foundation |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Data visualization; Eye tracking; Unity game engine; Virtual Environments |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260819 Date Completed: 20260819 Latest Revision: 20260916 |
| Update Code: | 20260916 |
| DOI: | 10.3758/s13428-026-03136-4 |
| PMID: | 42613407 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1554-3528 |
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| DOI: | 10.3758/s13428-026-03136-4 |