Microsaccades Track Location-Based Object Rehearsal in Visual Working Memory
Eelke de Vries1, Freek van Ede1
1Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1081 HV, The Netherlands e3.de.vries@vu.nl freek.van.ede@vu.nl.
Eneuro
|January 4, 2024
Summary
The brain
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
- Psychology
Background:
- The oculomotor system controls eye movements.
- It is also involved in spatial attention and working memory.
- The role in rehearsing visual objects in working memory is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate oculomotor system's role in rehearsing visual objects in working memory.
- Determine if location is incidentally used for mnemonic rehearsal.
- Examine microsaccade direction biases during memory tasks.
Main Methods:
- Participants maintained visual objects in working memory.
- Microsaccade directions were tracked during memory delay.
- Stimulus configuration (horizontal, diagonal, vertical) was varied.
Main Results:
- Microsaccades showed directional bias along the memory content's axis.
- This bias persisted for several seconds into the working memory delay.
- The bias was specific to memory demands, not encoding effects.
Conclusions:
- The oculomotor system is involved in rehearsing visual objects in working memory.
- Incidental use of object locations for mnemonic rehearsal was demonstrated.
- Microsaccade direction analysis reveals oculomotor-driven spatial rehearsal.
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