Looking for answers: eye movements in non-visual cognitive tasks.
It is not known why people move their eyes when engaged in non-visual cognition. The current study tested the hypothesis that differences in saccadic eye movement rate (EMR) during non-visual cognitive tasks reflect different requirements for searching long-term memory. Participants performed non-visual tasks requiring relatively low or high long-term memory retrieval while eye movements were recorded. In three experiments, EMR was substantially lower for low-retrieval than for high-retrieval tasks, including in an eyes closed condition in Experiment 3. Neither visual imagery nor between-task difficulty was related to EMR, although there was some evidence for a minor effect of within-task difficulty. Comparison of task-related EMRs to EMR during a no-task waiting period suggests that eye movements may be suppressed or activated depending on task requirements. We discuss a number of possible interpretations of saccadic eye movements during non-visual cognition and propose an evolutionary model that links these eye movements to memory search through an elaboration of circuitry involved in visual perception.
Ehrlichman
Howard
H
Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367, USA. Howard.Ehrlichman@qc.cuny.edu
Micic
Dragana
D
Sousa
Amber
A
Zhu
John
J
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001307:Auditory Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019018:Imagery, Psychotherapy; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D008959:Models, Neurological; D011930:Reaction Time; D012438:Saccades; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology