title: Why do we move our eyes while trying to remember? The relationship between non-visual gaze patterns and memory.
abstract: Non-visual gaze patterns (NVGPs) involve saccades and fixations that spontaneously occur in cognitive activities that are not ostensibly visual. While reasons for their appearance remain obscure, convergent empirical evidence suggests that NVGPs change according to processing requirements of tasks. We examined NVPGs in tasks with long-term memory (LTM) and working memory (WM) requirements. Experiment 1 yielded significantly higher eye movement rate (EMR) in tasks requiring LTM search than in a WM task requiring maintenance of information. Experiment 2 manipulated accessibility of items in study-test episodic tasks using the levels of processing paradigm. EMR was high in episodic recall irrespective of item accessibility. Experiment 3 examined functional significance of saccades in LTM tasks. Voluntary saccadic suppression produced no evidence that saccades contribute to task performance. We discuss the apparent epiphenomenal nature of spontaneous saccades from an evolutionary perspective and outline a neuroanatomical model of the link between the saccadic and memory system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), Flushing, NY 11357, USA. dmicic@nyc.rr.com
authors.forename: Dragana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Micic
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ehrlichman
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057567:Memory, Long-Term; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012438:Saccades; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult