Looking for Memory : Tracking Neural Representations at Moments of Gaze Reinstatement
Herschel, Hannah LU ; Nikolaev, Andrey LU
; Hofgaard Joensen, Bardur
LU
; Bramao, Ines
LU
; Johansson, Roger
LU
and Johansson, Mikael
LU
(2025)
International Conference of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON) Porto 2025
- Abstract
- Eye movements originally made during memory formation are often spontaneously reproduced during retrieval, even in the absence of visual input, directing gaze back to the locations where goal-relevant episodic information was previously encountered. This behavior, known as gaze reinstatement, is thought to support the reactivation of episodic content associated with those locations (e.g., Johansson et al., 2022, Proc. R. Soc. B). However, no previous study has directly demonstrated content-specific neural reactivation during gaze reinstatement. To address this gap, we combined simultaneous EEG and eye-tracking with multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to decode content-specific neural activity during a free-viewing memory task in which... (More)
- Eye movements originally made during memory formation are often spontaneously reproduced during retrieval, even in the absence of visual input, directing gaze back to the locations where goal-relevant episodic information was previously encountered. This behavior, known as gaze reinstatement, is thought to support the reactivation of episodic content associated with those locations (e.g., Johansson et al., 2022, Proc. R. Soc. B). However, no previous study has directly demonstrated content-specific neural reactivation during gaze reinstatement. To address this gap, we combined simultaneous EEG and eye-tracking with multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to decode content-specific neural activity during a free-viewing memory task in which participants reinstated multi-element events while “looking at nothing”.
Thirty-eight participants encoded a series of events, each comprising six visual elements from three categories (faces, places, objects), presented at distinct screen locations. Each encoding phase was followed by a 10-second looking-at-nothing period, during which the visual elements were removed and only empty placeholders remained, requiring participants to mentally reinstate the event using spatial cues alone.
To examine category-specific neural activation during this looking-at-nothing phase, we first computed fixation-related potentials (FRPs), applying deconvolution modeling to correct for overlapping effects from unrestricted eye movements. We then compared FRP amplitudes for fixations directed to locations where category-specific elements had been presented during encoding. This analysis revealed significant differences between face- and place-associated locations over occipital areas, emerging around 150–400 ms after fixation onset.
Next, we applied MVPA with bivariate and multivariate linear classifier to decode fixation-related EEG during the looking-at-nothing phase. Neural responses were classified based on fixations to locations previously occupied by category-specific event elements. Cluster-based permutation tests revealed significant above chance decoding for multiclass and all binary classifiers, reliably distinguishing between element categories. Finally, the neural decoding results were related to subsequent memory performance, demonstrating significant positive correlations between classification results and memory performance.
These findings extend prior work by providing the first direct neural evidence of content-specific memory reactivation at moments of gaze reinstatement, supporting the view that eye movements play an active role in reconstructing episodic memories.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2dfed47f-24fe-432c-ab7d-de917b5d3e42
- author
- Herschel, Hannah
LU
; Nikolaev, Andrey
LU
; Hofgaard Joensen, Bardur
LU
; Bramao, Ines
LU
; Johansson, Roger
LU
and Johansson, Mikael
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-09-17
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- International Conference of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON) Porto 2025
- conference location
- Porto, Portugal
- conference dates
- 2025-09-15 - 2025-09-20
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2dfed47f-24fe-432c-ab7d-de917b5d3e42
- date added to LUP
- 2025-10-02 08:39:54
- date last changed
- 2025-10-04 03:24:26
@misc{2dfed47f-24fe-432c-ab7d-de917b5d3e42,
abstract = {{Eye movements originally made during memory formation are often spontaneously reproduced during retrieval, even in the absence of visual input, directing gaze back to the locations where goal-relevant episodic information was previously encountered. This behavior, known as gaze reinstatement, is thought to support the reactivation of episodic content associated with those locations (e.g., Johansson et al., 2022, Proc. R. Soc. B). However, no previous study has directly demonstrated content-specific neural reactivation during gaze reinstatement. To address this gap, we combined simultaneous EEG and eye-tracking with multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to decode content-specific neural activity during a free-viewing memory task in which participants reinstated multi-element events while “looking at nothing”.<br/>Thirty-eight participants encoded a series of events, each comprising six visual elements from three categories (faces, places, objects), presented at distinct screen locations. Each encoding phase was followed by a 10-second looking-at-nothing period, during which the visual elements were removed and only empty placeholders remained, requiring participants to mentally reinstate the event using spatial cues alone.<br/>To examine category-specific neural activation during this looking-at-nothing phase, we first computed fixation-related potentials (FRPs), applying deconvolution modeling to correct for overlapping effects from unrestricted eye movements. We then compared FRP amplitudes for fixations directed to locations where category-specific elements had been presented during encoding. This analysis revealed significant differences between face- and place-associated locations over occipital areas, emerging around 150–400 ms after fixation onset.<br/>Next, we applied MVPA with bivariate and multivariate linear classifier to decode fixation-related EEG during the looking-at-nothing phase. Neural responses were classified based on fixations to locations previously occupied by category-specific event elements. Cluster-based permutation tests revealed significant above chance decoding for multiclass and all binary classifiers, reliably distinguishing between element categories. Finally, the neural decoding results were related to subsequent memory performance, demonstrating significant positive correlations between classification results and memory performance. <br/>These findings extend prior work by providing the first direct neural evidence of content-specific memory reactivation at moments of gaze reinstatement, supporting the view that eye movements play an active role in reconstructing episodic memories.<br/>}},
author = {{Herschel, Hannah and Nikolaev, Andrey and Hofgaard Joensen, Bardur and Bramao, Ines and Johansson, Roger and Johansson, Mikael}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
title = {{Looking for Memory : Tracking Neural Representations at Moments of Gaze Reinstatement}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/228881647/Herschel_ICON_Poster_2025.pdf}},
year = {{2025}},
}