Abstract:

Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly recognized as a groundbreaking tool in psychological research, offering the ability to create controlled, ecologically valid environments uniquely suited for studying human behavior and cognitive processes. However, despite its transformative potential, developing VR experiments presents significant technical challenges, particularly for researchers who may not possess advanced programming skills. To address these challenges, a variety of specialized tools have been developed to simplify the creation of VR experiments. These tools enable researchers to focus more on experimental design and less on the complex technical intricacies associated with VR development.

This review systematically categorizes and assesses a diverse array of VR tools introduced in recent years. These tools are classified into two primary categories: general-purpose experimental frameworks and those tailored to specific experimental paradigms. General-purpose experimental frameworks, such as those based on Unity, offer highly flexible environments that can be adapted to a wide range of experimental designs. These frameworks are particularly advantageous for researchers who need to create complex, customized VR experiments. For example, Unity-based frameworks are versatile and powerful, allowing detailed control over experimental conditions, though they often require some programming expertise. In contrast, tools tailored to specific experimental paradigms, such as VREX for attention and memory research, provide pre-configured templates and resources. These specialized tools simplify the setup process, minimize the need for technical adjustments, and allow researchers to conduct studies with minimal setup time. This review also highlights recent progress and new tools that combine physiological signal recording devices with VR, demonstrating how this integration can enhance research capabilities.

By detailing the key features and potential use cases of each tool, the review provides psychological researchers with valuable insights into selecting the most appropriate tools for their experimental goals. Furthermore, the review summarizes the usage methods, technical foundations, and accessibility of these tools through tables, offering well-organized resources and an informative guide for researchers. This contributes to the ongoing evolution of psychological research methodologies and empowers researchers to explore new frontiers in understanding human behavior and cognition through VR.

The review also explores emerging trends and future directions in VR experiment development, introducing new concepts such as the “meta-framework” and the “experiment as code” approach. These innovative ideas advocate for unifying various tools and frameworks under a common architecture, thereby making VR experiment development more accessible, efficient, and standardized. The meta-framework concept, in particular, seeks to enhance the scalability, reproducibility, and consistency of VR experiments, addressing many of the current challenges faced by researchers in VR-based psychological studies. To further illustrate the advantages of these concepts, the paper presents a more specific model: the “researcher-developer-participant” meta-framework development model. This model, when combined with cloud-based collaborative approaches, emphasizes the separation of research design from technical implementation. Such a division allows for greater flexibility and standardization in VR experiments, making it more feasible for a wider range of researchers to adopt VR technology in their studies. By enabling researchers to focus on the conceptual aspects of their research while specialized developers handle the technical execution, these concepts have the potential to create more accessible and scalable VR solutions, thereby opening up new avenues for investigation and discovery.

Key words: virtual reality, 3D stimuli, experimental development tools, meta-framework, reproducibility, open science