Abstract

In the context of digital communication, relying primarily on self-report methods (surveys and interviews) makes it difficult for journalism and communication research to capture, objectively and in real time, audience attention and emotional responses. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the application of biometric tools in journalism and communication research remains limited, creating a methodological gap in evaluating content effectiveness and communication strategies. Against this backdrop, this article reviews and synthesizes representative studies indexed in the Scopus database on the use of eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG) in international journalism and communication research. In doing so, it systematizes the major application areas of these two tools, clarifies the value of biometric data in journalism and communication research, and discusses the feasibility of their application in the Vietnamese context.

The review shows that eye-tracking has mainly been applied in the following areas: examining visual attention to communication and advertising design, evaluating user experience in digital environments, and analyzing the processes of reading, processing, and assessing news. EEG has been used primarily in neuromarketing and is increasingly being extended to measure audience engagement and emotional responses when receiving media content. In the Vietnamese context, eye-tracking and EEG have the potential to provide objective, real-time data on audience attention and responses; however, these tools should be used as complementary methods in combination with surveys and interviews to interpret the meaning and context of the signals, rather than to completely replace traditional methods. On this basis, the article proposes several feasible research directions for implementation in Vietnam.