Eye movements of recent and remote autobiographical memories: fewer and longer lasting fixations during the retrieval of childhood memories

Abstract

There is an increased interest in the study of eye movements during the retrieval of autobiographical memories. Following this trend, the aim of the current study was to evaluate eye movements during the retrieval of remote and recent autobiographical memories. We instructed 71 participants to retrieve memories of personal events from early childhood (6-10years), late childhood/early adolescence (11-14years), late adolescence (15-18years), and the last month. During the retrieval of these memories, participants wore eye-tracking glasses. Analyses showed that early childhood memories triggered fewer fixations and fixations with longer durations than memories from the last month. However, no significant differences were observed for the number of saccades, saccade durations, or total amplitude of the saccades. The fewer and longer lasting fixations during the retrieval of early childhood memories can be attributed either to the visual system reconstructing remote memories from an observer perspective or to difficulties when reconstructing remote memories.