Effects of Saccadic Bilateral Eye Movements on Episodic and Semantic Autobiographical Memory Fluency

Abstract

Performing a sequence of fast saccadic horizontal eye movements has been shown to facilitate performance on a range of cognitive tasks, including the retrieval of episodic memories. One explanation for these effects is based on the hypothesis that saccadic eye movements increase hemispheric interaction, and that such interactions are important for particular types of memory. The aim of the current research was to assess the effect of horizontal saccadic eye movements on the retrieval of both episodic autobiographical memory (event/incident based memory) and semantic autobiographical memory (fact based memory) over recent and more distant time periods. It was found that saccadic eye movements facilitated the retrieval of episodic autobiographical memories (over all time periods) but not semantic autobiographical memories. In addition, eye movements did not enhance the retrieval of non-autobiographical semantic memory. This finding illustrates a dissociation between the episodic and semantic characteristics of personal memory and is considered within the context of hemispheric contributions to episodic memory performance.

Hemispheric Bases for Emotion and Memory

“…The first is Parker and colleagues' Effects of Saccadic Bilateral Eye Movements on Episodic and Semantic Autobiographical Memory Fluency (Parker et al, 2013), demonstrating that horizontal saccadic eye movements enhance episodic but not semantic autobiographical memory retrieval. In accounting for these results, the authors point to the hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry (HERA; Habib et al, 2003) model and its suggestion that episodic memory retrieval depends on efficient and dynamic interhemispheric interactions.…”

Deconstructing saccades : identifying the components of saccades that produce saccade-induced retrieval enhancement.

“…There was a significant three-way interaction between activity, half and order, that discrimination following the exogenous activity was in-between saccades and fixation. Previous research has found that the effects of vertical eye movements sometimes fall between these two conditions (Christman et al, 2003;Parker et al, 2013). and .31, respectively), largest t(62) = .573, p = .569.…”

“…However, the evidence they cited for interactions between anterior and posterior regions included one experiment (Summerfield & Mangels, 2005) involving a functional coupling between frontal and parietal regions. Furthermore, they referred to Lyle and Martin's (2010) proposal that saccades increase activity in the IPS and FEF as an anterior-posterior interaction (see Parker et al, 2013). If the anterior-posterior interaction hypothesis is expanded to include interaction between regions in the frontoparietal network, then it might also explain the benefit of saccades on creativity and the cued-flanker task.…”

“…Their results suggested a diminishing effect of saccades over time, but a significant enhancement lasted 7 to 9 m for originality and 1-3 m for categorical distinctiveness. The exact duration of saccadeinduced benefits on retrieval are unknown, but have been found to persist for at least 3 m (Parker et al, 2013). The retrieval phase in the current experiment was self-paced, and completion time was not recorded, so SIRE might have ended prior to later trials.…”

“…Saccades have improved autobiographical memory by increasing the amount (Parker, Parkin, & Dagnall, 2013), accuracy (Christman et al, 2003, Experiment 2), and vividness (Parker & Dagnall, 2010) of memories recalled. In addition, saccades have decreased the age of earliest childhood memories recalled (Christman, Propper, & Brown, 2006, Experiment 2).…”