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Updated: Jun 12, 2026
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Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
Published on: March 18, 2019
Saccades elicit obligatory allocation of visual working memory
1Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Memory & Cognition
|June 17, 2010
Summary
Visual working memory (VWM) control is impaired during saccades. Eye movements automatically allocate VWM to saccade targets, overriding volitional control and impacting memory performance.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
- Psychology
Background:
- Visual working memory (VWM) is crucial for daily tasks.
- Saccades, or rapid eye movements, are frequent during natural VWM use.
- The interplay between VWM allocation and saccadic eye movements is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the volitional control of VWM allocation during saccades.
- To determine if saccades influence how VWM resources are distributed.
- To examine the automaticity of VWM allocation in relation to eye movements.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed a memory task involving intervening saccades.
- Saccade targets were either memory items or non-memory items.
- Memory performance was compared between conditions with and without saccades, and with different saccade targets.
Main Results:
- Memory performance decreased when saccades targeted non-memory items.
- This impairment occurred irrespective of the similarity between items.
- VWM control was significantly reduced during saccades compared to fixation.
Conclusions:
- Volitional control over VWM allocation is substantially impaired during saccades.
- VWM includes an automatic component that obligatorily allocates resources to saccade targets.
- Eye movements and VWM interact in a largely automatic manner, influencing cognitive processing.
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