Over the past 14 years, eye-tracking technology has emerged as a transformative tool in psychological research, offering insights into cognitive processes, emotional responses, and behavioral patterns. This narrative review synthesizes advancements in eye-tracking applications from 2012 to 2025 across four primary psychological domains: (i) cognitive psychology, (ii) emotional and affective research, (iii) psychological variables in human–computer interaction, and (iv) clinical psychological assessments. Using selected PRISMA 2020–informed reporting items to improve transparency, the structured narrative synthesis discusses 70 peer-reviewed publications. The research underscores methodological and theoretical progress, including the integration of multimodal measurements and the advent of machine learning approaches for gaze data analysis. The thematic synthesis indicates that eye-tracking measures have been explored as potential indicators in clinical research contexts and as tools for examining cognitive workload through pupillary responses. However, considerable methodological limitations persist, including discrepancies in technical accuracy, calibration drift, and the requirement for uniform methods among studies. This study emphasizes that future investigations should prioritize transparent reporting and ethical safeguards regarding gaze data privacy and informed consent.
Gaze and Eye-Tracking Perspectives for Psychological Research: A Narrative Review of Advances From 2012 to 2025
Maria Laura Mele;Stefano Federici
2026
Abstract
Over the past 14 years, eye-tracking technology has emerged as a transformative tool in psychological research, offering insights into cognitive processes, emotional responses, and behavioral patterns. This narrative review synthesizes advancements in eye-tracking applications from 2012 to 2025 across four primary psychological domains: (i) cognitive psychology, (ii) emotional and affective research, (iii) psychological variables in human–computer interaction, and (iv) clinical psychological assessments. Using selected PRISMA 2020–informed reporting items to improve transparency, the structured narrative synthesis discusses 70 peer-reviewed publications. The research underscores methodological and theoretical progress, including the integration of multimodal measurements and the advent of machine learning approaches for gaze data analysis. The thematic synthesis indicates that eye-tracking measures have been explored as potential indicators in clinical research contexts and as tools for examining cognitive workload through pupillary responses. However, considerable methodological limitations persist, including discrepancies in technical accuracy, calibration drift, and the requirement for uniform methods among studies. This study emphasizes that future investigations should prioritize transparent reporting and ethical safeguards regarding gaze data privacy and informed consent.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
