The role of eye movements in memory reconstruction

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The overarching goals of our research program are to understand the nature of memory, including how memories are built, what information is contained within memory, and the neural regions that support memory. During the five years of the previous granting period, we have used eyetracking, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging studies to demonstrate that the hippocampus (HC) is important for binding information across space and time. Further, we have shown that the HC is well integrated structurally and functionally with the oculomotor system, suggesting that eye movements may be an important mechanism by which memories are formed and retrieved. Restricting eye movements during encoding hinders the development of memories. Similarly, during memory rehearsal or memory retrieval, viewers will often revisit previously occupied locations with their eyes, a phenomenon known as “looking at nothing”. “Looking at nothing” may occur as a representation is formed, or reconstructed, in real time, and information is either maintained in an active state or brought forth from memory. However, there remains an opportunity to test this idea by programmatically exploring the role of eye movements in the (re)construction of memory. We suggest that visual exploration may be critical for establishing spatiotemporal frameworks onto which details are incorporated, allowing for memories to be retrieved, or used to imagine future scenarios. In the proposed work, we will combine eyetracking with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate:1) the extent to which eye movements that are made during tasks of memory retrieval and future imagining are related to the amount of spatial and temporal order information that is provided2) the neural mechanisms that are engaged as eye movements retrieve memories and construct future scenarios that include spatial and temporal order information We expect that findings from this work will show that the oculomotor system provides a spatial and temporal layout onto which information (objects, people) can be embedded and bound into a lasting representation by the HC and subsequently retrieved. This research program will change our understanding of how memories are built by detailing the mechanistic role of the oculomotor system in memory. This research will provide unique opportunities for trainees to gain cutting-edge experience using the most advanced techniques to advance our understanding of memory and the multi-faceted role of the oculomotor system.