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Eye movements during visual imagery have a functional role and are related to individual differences in spatial imagery ability

Author

Summary, in English

This study investigated eye movements during visual imagery,

under two experimental conditions. Participants

recalled complex pictures from memory while looking at a

blank screen under a condition of free viewing and under a

condition where fixation was maintained in the centre of the

screen. The recall task was to orally describe the picture.

Results showed that, under the condition of free viewing,

eye movements spread out and closely reflected content and

spatial information from the recalled picture. However, the

degree and amplitude of this effect varied among individuals

and had a negative correlation with spatial imagery ability.

Maintaining central fixation during recall affected and

impaired pictorial recall. Descriptions focused significantly

more on global and general aspects of the picture than on

specific elements and spatial relations, when compared with

the free viewing condition. These findings have important

implications for visuo-spatial reasoning, mental models and

spatial cognition in general.

Publishing year

2011

Language

English

Publication/Series

In B. Kokinov, A. Karmiloff-Smith, & N. J. Nersessian (Eds.), European perspectives on cognitive science: Proceedings of the European conference on cognitive science EuroCogSci 2011. Sofia: New Bulgarian University Press.

Document type

Conference paper

Topic

  • Human Aspects of ICT

Conference name

European Conference on Cognitive Science, EuroCog 2011

Conference date

2011-05-21

Conference place

New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria

Status

Published

Project

  • Thinking in Time: Cognition, Communication and Learning