Are eye movements and covert shifts of attention functional for memory retrieval?

authored by

Ruhi Bhanap, Klaus Oberauer, Agnes Rosner

Abstract

During memory retrieval, people tend to look back at locations where the information was previously presented, known as the Looking at Nothing effect (LAN). Scholz et al. [2018] reported that LAN can be functional for memory not only through eye movements (EM) but also by covert shifts of attention (CA). In our study, we aimed to replicate their findings in an associative recognition task. During encoding, participants were twice presented with three word-pairs at three locations. At retrieval, we manipulated EM or CA to a congruent, incongruent, or central location with a digit tracking task and simultaneously tested their memory with aural cues. We observed a trend with higher accuracy for the congruent over incongruent trials for both EM and CA, however, this trend was not credible statistically. We discuss the differences in studies and implications for testing the link between attention, eye movements and memory. Data and Analysis Scripts: osf.io/xf9sb/

Organisation(s)

Institute of Psychology

External Organisation(s)

Universität Zürich (UZH)

Type

Conference contribution

No. of pages

Publication date

04.06.2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Human-Computer Interaction, Ophthalmology, Sensory Systems

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1145/3649902.3653355 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@inproceedings{cb35501351a34c738021c3dfd8f59090,
title = "Are eye movements and covert shifts of attention functional for memory retrieval?",
abstract = "During memory retrieval, people tend to look back at locations where the information was previously presented, known as the Looking at Nothing effect (LAN). Scholz et al. [2018] reported that LAN can be functional for memory not only through eye movements (EM) but also by covert shifts of attention (CA). In our study, we aimed to replicate their findings in an associative recognition task. During encoding, participants were twice presented with three word-pairs at three locations. At retrieval, we manipulated EM or CA to a congruent, incongruent, or central location with a digit tracking task and simultaneously tested their memory with aural cues. We observed a trend with higher accuracy for the congruent over incongruent trials for both EM and CA, however, this trend was not credible statistically. We discuss the differences in studies and implications for testing the link between attention, eye movements and memory. Data and Analysis Scripts: https://osf.io/xf9sb/",
keywords = "Eye Movement and Cognition, Memory",
author = "Ruhi Bhanap and Klaus Oberauer and Agnes Rosner",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 Owner/Author.; 16th Annual ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, ETRA 2024 ; Conference date: 04-06-2024 Through 07-06-2024",
year = "2024",
month = jun,
day = "4",
doi = "10.1145/3649902.3653355",
language = "English",
series = "Eye Tracking Research and Applications Symposium (ETRA)",
publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",
editor = "Spencer, {Stephen N.}",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2024 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications",
}