Abstract
Eye movements during memory encoding act as retrieval cues: evidence shows that memory retrieval is improved when eyes are shifted to the same position where they were located during retrieval. However, it is yet unknown whether it is the motor action or its visual consequence that constitute the retrieval cue associated with eye movements. In this research we examined the visual and motor aspects of eye movements in memory retrieval, and investigated individual differences in the ability to gain from these cues. In our experiment (N=72) we dissociated the visual and motor aspects of eye movements during memory encoding and retrieval. In each trial, participants performed two sequential saccades to the left or right, and then were presented with a target word at the final landing position. The trials varied in vertical location, as the horizontal saccades were performed either at the top or bottom part of the screen. During retrieval, participants performed the same task but they were also asked to indicate whether the target was presented before. Each retrieval trial matched its accompanying encoding trial in: the direction of the saccades (motor-only cue), the vertical location (visual-only cue), both (motor-visual cue) or neither (no cue). Findings revealed that participants varied in their ability to gain from eye movements as retrieval cues: while some participants benefitted from motor and visual cues, others did not. We additionally found that recognition performance in the motor-only condition was positively correlated across participants with performance in the visual-only condition, even after memory capabilities were controlled for. To conclude, these findings suggest that the ability to gain from eye movements as retrieval cue is an individual trait. Individuals who tend to benefit from eye movements as retrieval cues, tend to gain from both aspects of these cues (motor and perceptual) to a similar extent.