Fixation reinstatement supports visuospatial memory in older adults.

Abstract

Research using eye movement monitoring suggests that recapitulating the pattern of eye movements made during stimulus encoding at subsequent retrieval supports memory by reinstating the spatial layout of the encoded stimulus. In the present study, the authors investigated whether recapitulation of encoding fixations during a poststudy, stimulus-free delay period-an effect that has been previously linked to memory maintenance in younger adults-can support mnemonic performance in older adults. Older adults showed greater delay-period fixation reinstatement than younger adults, and this reinstatement supported age-equivalent performance on a subsequent visuospatial-memory-based change detection task, whereas in younger adults, the performance-enhancing effects of fixation reinstatement increased with task difficulty. Taken together, these results suggest that fixation reinstatement might reflect a compensatory response to increased cognitive load. The present findings provide novel evidence of compensatory fixation reinstatement in older adults and demonstrate the utility of eye movement monitoring for aging and memory research. (PsycINFO Database Record

The intersection between the oculomotor and hippocampal memory systems: empirical developments and clinical implications

“…As an example, when multiple elements, each of which is composed of a constellation of features, must be bound and retrieved across space and time, gaze reinstatement may be beneficial and related to performance, whereas retrieval of a single item with few features and occupying a single location may not require gaze reinstatement . Likewise, in cases of presumed hippocampal dysfunction, such as in aging, increases in visual exploration and increases in gaze reinstatement may support memory retrieval on simpler tasks for which younger adults either do not show gaze reinstatement or do not show a relationship between gaze reinstatement and memory performance . However, comprehensive research that examines the boundaries of gaze reinstatement—the conditions under which it is evident and the types of memory performance it supports—remains to be done.…”

“…Specifically, gaze reinstatement may aid in memory retrieval when the demands of the task exceed available cognitive resources (i.e., when information cannot be held online or within the confines of working memory) and/or when performance critically requires access to hippocampally mediated relational memory. 154 As an example, when multiple elements, each of which is composed of a constellation of features, must be bound and retrieved across space and time, gaze reinstatement may be beneficial and related to performance, whereas retrieval of a single item with few features and occupying a single location may not require gaze reinstatement. 170 Likewise, in cases of presumed hippocampal dysfunction, such as in aging, increases in visual exploration and increases in gaze reinstatement may support memory retrieval on simpler tasks for which younger adults either do not show gaze reinstatement or do not show a relationship between gaze reinstatement and memory performance.…”

“…170 Likewise, in cases of presumed hippocampal dysfunction, such as in aging, increases in visual exploration and increases in gaze reinstatement may support memory retrieval on simpler tasks for which younger adults either do not show gaze reinstatement or do not show a relationship between gaze reinstatement and memory performance. 154 However, comprehensive research that examines the boundaries of gaze reinstatement-the conditions under which it is evident and the types of memory performance it supports-remains to be done.…”

Eye movements support behavioral pattern completion

“…Previous work suggests that gaze reinstatement might only facilitate memory performance when cognitive demands exceed cognitive resources (Wynn et al, 2018; for review, see Wynn, Shen, et al, 2019). Given that performance was at ceiling for old images, we were unable to probe this effect.…”

“…For example, whereas fixed viewing impairs memory (Armson, Ryan, & Levine, 2019;Bochynska & Laeng, 2015;Henderson, Williams, & Falk, 2005;Johansson, Holsanova, Dewhurst, & Holmqvist, 2012;Johansson & Johansson, 2013), spontaneous gaze shifts to regions corresponding with previously encoded (i.e., viewed) image features has been shown to facilitate reactivation of those features and the relations among them (Noton & Stark, 1971a, 1971b; for review, see Wynn, Shen, et al, 2019). Reinstatement of encoding-related EMs, or gaze reinstatement, during memory maintenance (Olsen, Chiew, Buchsbaum, & Ryan, 2014;Wynn, Olsen, Binns, Buchsbaum, & Ryan, 2018) and retrieval (Damiano & Walther, 2019;Holm & Mäntylä, 2007;Laeng & Teodorescu, 2002;Wynn et al, 2016) has been associated with mnemonic performance across a variety of tasks. Even in the absence of visual input, humans spontaneously direct their gaze to image regions previously inspected during encoding (i.e., "looking at nothing"), and this gaze reinstatement has been correlated with explicit measures of memory.…”