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Updated: Aug 2, 2025
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Combining Eye-tracking Data with an Analysis of Video Content from Free-viewing a Video of a Walk in an Urban Park Environment
Published on: May 7, 2019
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Understanding the encoding of object locations in small-scale spaces during free exploration using eye tracking.
Alana Muller1, Joshua D Garren1, Kayla Cao1
1Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, 1503 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
Neuropsychologia
|April 20, 2023
Summary
Vision appears sufficient for remembering object locations in small spaces, even without body movement. Spatial memory relies more on visual attention to landmarks and local cues than global room coordinates.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Spatial Cognition
Background:
- Navigation and object localization are crucial for daily activities.
- Understanding spatial memory in real-world, small-scale environments remains limited.
- The differential contributions of vision and body movement to spatial memory are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how vision and body movement influence spatial memory for object locations in a room.
- To determine if stationary viewing or guided walking enhances object recall.
- To explore the role of viewpoint changes and landmarks in spatial memory.
Main Methods:
- A 2x2 within-subject design compared stationary vs. walking conditions and same vs. different viewpoints for object retrieval.
- Participants encoded object locations visually or while blindfolded and walking.
- Mobile eye tracking recorded eye movements during encoding and retrieval.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in object retrieval accuracy were found across the four experimental conditions.
- Eye tracking revealed better memory for objects near landmarks and grouped by wall.
- Average looking time was the sole significant predictor of object placement accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Vision alone may be sufficient for encoding object locations in small-scale environments.
- Spatial memories in these settings appear to be formed using local cues (landmarks, walls) rather than global room coordinates.
- Visual attention, particularly to landmarks, is critical for accurate spatial memory encoding.
