Abstract
Autobiographical recall is thought to rely on the ability to generate a visual image of the remembered event. Neuropsychological studies suggest a relationship between deterioration in visual mental imagery and autobiographical distortions, while neuroimaging data similarly implicate visual brain areas in autobiographical recall. However, neither whether autobiographical retrieval is associated with visual exploration, or not. Our paper aimed to provide such evidence one way or the other. Using an eye tracking system, we recorded eye movements of 40 participants during autobiographical recall and during a control condition in which participants had to count aloud. In both conditions, the participants had to look at a blank screen while their gaze location was recorded by the eye-tracker. Autobiographical recall triggered a lower number of fixations and reduced their duration. In contrast, the number, duration, and amplitude of saccades increased compared to the control condition. Our data suggest that autobiographical recall is characterized by visual processing.
Highlights
It has been widely suggested that autobiographical memories, or memories of personal events, are dominated by visual mental imagery. Brewer (1996), for instance, proposed that many specific autobiographical memories come to mind in the form of visual images and that, further, the retrieval of a visual image is a core feature of autobiographical memory, distinguishing events that are remembered from those that are known
We found that autobiographical recall triggered a lower number and a reduced duration of fixations, together with a larger number, duration, and amplitude of saccades than a control condition requiring no autobiographical recall
Neuropsychological cases suggest a relationship between deterioration in visual mental imagery and autobiographical memory distortion (Greenberg et al, 2005), while neuroimaging studies show activation of visual brain areas during autobiographical recall (e.g., Viard et al, 2007)
Summary
It has been widely suggested that autobiographical memories, or memories of personal events, are dominated by visual mental imagery. Brewer (1996), for instance, proposed that many specific autobiographical memories come to mind in the form of visual images and that, further, the retrieval of a visual image is a core feature of autobiographical memory, distinguishing events that are remembered from those that are known. A similar case was reported by Brown and Chobor (1995) regarding a patient with right frontal and left occipital damage who showed visual agnosia and an extensive retrograde amnesia Another patient with damage in the right occipital lobe along with the occipitotemporal junction showed, alongside manifested retrograde amnesia, difficulties recognizing common objects from memory as well as difficulty generating and manipulating visual images (Greenberg et al, 2005). He was able to remember names and dates encountered before his illness, the patient exhibited great difficulties remembering specific episodes associated
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