Iterative fragmentation of cognitive maps in a visual imagery task.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology of Perception

Background:

• The relationship between spontaneous eye movements and the mental generation of visual imagery is not fully understood.
• Investigating whether eye movements reflect the spatial arrangement of mental representations is crucial for understanding visual imagery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if eye movements during visual imagery tasks correspond to the spatial layout of evoked mental images.
• To differentiate between eye movements related to visual imagery and those related to non-imagery memory retrieval.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed a visual imagery task and a phonological fluency (non-imagery) task, both involving naming French towns from memory.
• Eye movements were recorded during both tasks.
• Advanced analysis using a bi-dimensional regression model assessed the spatial correlation between gaze position and town locations.

Main Results:

• Spontaneous eye positions reflected the geographic locations of towns only during the visual imagery task.
• A significant spatial correlation between gaze and town locations was confirmed in all individuals during visual imagery, but not during the non-imagery task.
• Analysis revealed iterative, fragmented processing of mental images, with consistent spatial distortions across individuals.

Conclusions:

• Eye positions closely map the spatial arrangement of mental images, supporting theories of visual imagery as a spatially organized cognitive process.
• The findings provide empirical evidence for visual imagery involving iterative, fragmented processing, similar to visual sampling.