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Let’s See What We Recall - The Regulation of Memory Accessibility by Gaze Direction

Schmeisser, Yvonne LU (2020) PSYP01 20192
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Gaze behaviour has previously been shown to support memory retrieval. Looking at the encoding location of a to-be-retrieved object leads to higher retrieval performance. How gaze exerts this function is still unknown. One possibility is that gaze fixations upregulate the activity and accessibility of memories associated with a looked-at location. This study uses an adapted retrieval-practice paradigm to investigate this. Previous studies using classic retrieval-practice paradigms have found that recalling a target memory among several competing memories during a practice phase often leads to the forgetting of the non-target memories during a subsequent test phase. One explanation is that non-target competing memories are actively... (More)
Gaze behaviour has previously been shown to support memory retrieval. Looking at the encoding location of a to-be-retrieved object leads to higher retrieval performance. How gaze exerts this function is still unknown. One possibility is that gaze fixations upregulate the activity and accessibility of memories associated with a looked-at location. This study uses an adapted retrieval-practice paradigm to investigate this. Previous studies using classic retrieval-practice paradigms have found that recalling a target memory among several competing memories during a practice phase often leads to the forgetting of the non-target memories during a subsequent test phase. One explanation is that non-target competing memories are actively downregulated when trying to recall the target, making the competitors less accessible in subsequent tests. In the present study, competing items were encoded at different locations. During the practice phase, gaze was directed towards either the target’s or a competitor’s encoding location. Retrieval accuracy and speed were measured while gaze position was tracked. During the practice phase, target items were recalled more accurately when gaze was directed towards their encoding location, as hypothesized. In the test phase, non-targets whose locations were looked at during the practice phase, were recalled no worse than other non-targets. Thus, looking at a competitor’s encoding location during the practice phase either does not seem to upregulate this competitor’s activity, or provoke stronger downregulation during target recollection. Limitations and future research possibilities are discussed. (Less)
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author
Schmeisser, Yvonne LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20192
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
looking-at-nothing, gaze direction, retrieval-induced forgetting, competitive memory retrieval
language
English
id
9011625
date added to LUP
2020-08-21 16:26:22
date last changed
2020-08-21 16:26:22
@misc{9011625,
  abstract     = {{Gaze behaviour has previously been shown to support memory retrieval. Looking at the encoding location of a to-be-retrieved object leads to higher retrieval performance. How gaze exerts this function is still unknown. One possibility is that gaze fixations upregulate the activity and accessibility of memories associated with a looked-at location. This study uses an adapted retrieval-practice paradigm to investigate this. Previous studies using classic retrieval-practice paradigms have found that recalling a target memory among several competing memories during a practice phase often leads to the forgetting of the non-target memories during a subsequent test phase. One explanation is that non-target competing memories are actively downregulated when trying to recall the target, making the competitors less accessible in subsequent tests. In the present study, competing items were encoded at different locations. During the practice phase, gaze was directed towards either the target’s or a competitor’s encoding location. Retrieval accuracy and speed were measured while gaze position was tracked. During the practice phase, target items were recalled more accurately when gaze was directed towards their encoding location, as hypothesized. In the test phase, non-targets whose locations were looked at during the practice phase, were recalled no worse than other non-targets. Thus, looking at a competitor’s encoding location during the practice phase either does not seem to upregulate this competitor’s activity, or provoke stronger downregulation during target recollection. Limitations and future research possibilities are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Schmeisser, Yvonne}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Let’s See What We Recall - The Regulation of Memory Accessibility by Gaze Direction}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}