Flexible gaze reinstatement during working memory for natural scenes

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Ophthalmology
• Psychology

Background:

• Working memory (WM) research traditionally focused on localized brain regions.
• Oculomotor signatures, like gaze biases, have been proposed as potential indicators of WM content.
• The precise role and specificity of these eye movement patterns in WM remain under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether eye gaze patterns during WM maintenance reflect specific content of naturalistic images.
• To determine the functional relevance and flexibility of oculomotor signals in WM based on task demands.

Main Methods:

• Eye gaze was tracked during WM tasks involving naturalistic images.
• Task relevance of image features (visual vs. semantic) was manipulated across two experiments.
• Analysis focused on spatiotemporal gaze sequences during WM maintenance and their relation to stimulus encoding.

Main Results:

• Item-specific, spatiotemporal gaze sequences were observed during WM maintenance, mirroring encoding scanpaths.
• Gaze reinstatement during WM was stronger when visual details were prioritized.
• Oculomotor WM signals increased in anticipation of a test probe.

Conclusions:

• Gaze patterns during WM maintenance effectively track the identity of complex, natural images.
• Oculomotor WM signals are dynamically modulated by the prospective use of information, indicating functional flexibility.
• WM representations are likely distributed, action-oriented, and prospectively organized to meet situational needs.