Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye Movements
Memory strategies such as visual imagery and rehearsal are widely reported by participants as means to enhance recall. Their underlying mechanisms are thought to differ. Visual imagery is believed to engage both visual and spatial aspects of memoranda, while rehearsal is thought to reactivate only t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Cognition |
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| Online Access: | https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/449 |
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| author | Ruhi Bhanap Lea M. Bartsch Agnes Rosner |
| author_facet | Ruhi Bhanap Lea M. Bartsch Agnes Rosner |
| author_sort | Ruhi Bhanap |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Memory strategies such as visual imagery and rehearsal are widely reported by participants as means to enhance recall. Their underlying mechanisms are thought to differ. Visual imagery is believed to engage both visual and spatial aspects of memoranda, while rehearsal is thought to reactivate only the item-specific information, excluding spatial information. In this study, we employed the Looking at Nothing (LAN) effect – in which individuals make eye movements towards the original location of the memorized item during retrieval – to investigate the reactivation of spatial location in both visual imagery and rehearsal. Our findings demonstrate that LAN occurs with both strategies, indicating that spatial information is reactivated during rehearsal as well. Notably, we observed higher immediate as well as delayed memory performance with visual imagery compared to rehearsal. However, the amount of LAN observed for both these strategies remained the same. To further explore whether these differences in the amount of LAN and memory performance were driven by a modulation of the strength of long-term memory (LTM) traces we introduced proactive interference (PI) in a second experiment. PI is known to impact LTM traces, while leaving working memory (WM) intact. While PI led to a decline in WM for visual imagery, the amount of LAN remained the same. These results indicate that visual imagery and rehearsal both reactivate location information and additionally, visual imagery drives eye movements and memory benefits through distinct mechanisms. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4de5b9ebf76d41b19e2d16bdfb5ea492 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2514-4820 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Cognition |
| spelling | doaj-art-4de5b9ebf76d41b19e2d16bdfb5ea4922025-08-21T12:42:01ZengUbiquity PressJournal of Cognition2514-48202025-07-0181383810.5334/joc.449448Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye MovementsRuhi Bhanap0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7791-4666Lea M. Bartsch1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7640-9193Agnes Rosner2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9785-9660University of ZurichUniversity of ZurichUniversity of Zurich, CH; Leibniz University HannoverMemory strategies such as visual imagery and rehearsal are widely reported by participants as means to enhance recall. Their underlying mechanisms are thought to differ. Visual imagery is believed to engage both visual and spatial aspects of memoranda, while rehearsal is thought to reactivate only the item-specific information, excluding spatial information. In this study, we employed the Looking at Nothing (LAN) effect – in which individuals make eye movements towards the original location of the memorized item during retrieval – to investigate the reactivation of spatial location in both visual imagery and rehearsal. Our findings demonstrate that LAN occurs with both strategies, indicating that spatial information is reactivated during rehearsal as well. Notably, we observed higher immediate as well as delayed memory performance with visual imagery compared to rehearsal. However, the amount of LAN observed for both these strategies remained the same. To further explore whether these differences in the amount of LAN and memory performance were driven by a modulation of the strength of long-term memory (LTM) traces we introduced proactive interference (PI) in a second experiment. PI is known to impact LTM traces, while leaving working memory (WM) intact. While PI led to a decline in WM for visual imagery, the amount of LAN remained the same. These results indicate that visual imagery and rehearsal both reactivate location information and additionally, visual imagery drives eye movements and memory benefits through distinct mechanisms.https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/449working memoryeye movementsstrategiesrehearsalvisual imagery |
| spellingShingle | Ruhi Bhanap Lea M. Bartsch Agnes Rosner Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye Movements Journal of Cognition working memory eye movements strategies rehearsal visual imagery |
| title | Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye Movements |
| title_full | Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye Movements |
| title_fullStr | Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye Movements |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye Movements |
| title_short | Tracking Reactivation of Location Information during Memory Strategies: Insights from Eye Movements |
| title_sort | tracking reactivation of location information during memory strategies insights from eye movements |
| topic | working memory eye movements strategies rehearsal visual imagery |
| url | https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/449 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ruhibhanap trackingreactivationoflocationinformationduringmemorystrategiesinsightsfromeyemovements AT leambartsch trackingreactivationoflocationinformationduringmemorystrategiesinsightsfromeyemovements AT agnesrosner trackingreactivationoflocationinformationduringmemorystrategiesinsightsfromeyemovements |