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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 11, 2025

Eye Movement Monitoring of Memory

Eye Movement Monitoring of Memory

Published on: August 15, 2010

Do eye movements enhance visual memory retrieval?

Hikari Kinjo¹, Jolande Fooken², Miriam Spering³

¹Faculty of Psychology, Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan; Dept Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Vision Research

|August 23, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Participants looking at empty space, known as Looking-at-Nothing (LAN), showed improved memory recall when their eye movements (saccades) accurately targeted remembered locations. This suggests saccade accuracy is linked to memory retrieval.

Keywords:

Eye movements Looking at nothing Memory retrieval Microsaccades Saccades

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Published on: June 18, 2014

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Human Memory

Background:

The Looking-at-Nothing (LAN) phenomenon describes gaze returning to a remembered object's location after it disappears.
Previous research has inconsistently linked LAN to enhanced memory performance.
Systematic assessment of eye movements in relation to LAN and memory is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between Looking-at-Nothing (LAN) and memory performance.
To determine if eye movement characteristics during retrieval influence memory accuracy.
To differentiate the effects of free viewing versus central fixation on memory and eye movements.

Main Methods:

Twenty participants memorized object locations and identities arranged in a circle.
Participants performed memory retrieval tasks under free-viewing and central fixation conditions.
Eye movements, including saccades and microsaccades, were recorded during retrieval.
Memory accuracy and response times were measured.

Main Results:

No significant difference in memory accuracy or response time was found between free-viewing and fixation conditions.
A LAN effect was observed for saccades during free viewing, but not microsaccades during fixation.
Memory performance improved in free-viewing trials with accurate saccades to critical locations, correlating with saccade accuracy.

Conclusions:

Saccade kinematics, particularly accuracy, may be associated with memory retrieval processes.
The link between saccade characteristics and memory performance can vary between individuals and task demands.
LAN, specifically through accurate saccades, might play a role in memory recall, but its influence is nuanced.