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Eye Tracking in Visuoperceptual Diagnostic Tasks in Health Care: A Scoping Review and Thematic Synthesis With
Busra Ensar-Yilmaz1, Aysegul Sari-Suluker2, Jeff Searl1
1Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
Purpose:
Eye tracking provides objective measurement of visuoperceptual behavior during diagnostic interpretation. Although widely used in health care research, little is known about how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) visually engage with dynamic imaging. This scoping review mapped current research on clinicians' gaze behavior during visuoperceptual diagnostic tasks and synthesized methodological trends, outcome themes, and limitations to inform future speech-language pathology-focused eye-tracking research.
Method:
Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, five databases were searched for studies published between January 2000 and September 2025. Ninety-three studies met inclusion criteria. Data were extracted on study characteristics, diagnostic task characteristics, eye-tracking methodology, gaze outcomes, and reported limitations. Descriptive statistics summarized methodological features, and thematic analysis synthesized outcome trends and barriers.
Results:
Most studies were cross-sectional and conducted in radiology and pathology; only three studies involved SLP participants. Remote eye-tracking devices and static 2D image stimuli predominated, while wearable devices, high sample rate, and dynamic stimuli were uncommon. Thematic synthesis identified five outcome themes (expertise development, visual search behavior, diagnostic reasoning and performance, technological factors, and cognitive load and processing) and four barrier themes (generalizability concerns, data quality and measurement issues, technical and software limitations, and cognitive and behavioral factors).
Conclusions:
Eye tracking reveals meaningful differences in perceptual efficiency and diagnostic accuracy, yet speech-language pathology-focused evidence is limited. Future work should incorporate longitudinal expertise development, high-speed sampling and wearable tracking, dynamic area of interest automation, real-world clinical contexts, and standardized reporting to inform future clinician training and diagnostic performance.
