Geometry of visuospatial working memory information in miniature gaze patterns
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Nature Publishing Group
Date
2023-12-18Referencia bibliográfica
Linde-Domingo, J., Spitzer, B. Geometry of visuospatial working memory information in miniature gaze patterns. Nat Hum Behav 8, 336–348 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01737-z
Sponsorship
European Research Council Consolidator Grant ERC-2020-COG-101000972; DFG grant SP 1510/7-1; Ramon-y-Cajal fellowship RYC2021- 033940-I by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; Open access funding provided by Max Planck Society.Abstract
Stimulus-dependent eye movements have been recognized as a potential
confound in decoding visual working memory information from neural
signals. Here we combined eye-tracking with representational geometry
analyses to uncover the information in miniature gaze patterns while
participants (n = 41) were cued to maintain visual object orientations.
Although participants were discouraged from breaking fixation by
means of real-time feedback, small gaze shifts (<1°) robustly encoded the
to-be-maintained stimulus orientation, with evidence for encoding two
sequentially presented orientations at the same time. The orientation
encoding on stimulus presentation was object-specific, but it changed to
a more object-independent format during cued maintenance, particularly
when attention had been temporarily withdrawn from the memorandum.
Finally, categorical reporting biases increased after unattended storage,
with indications of biased gaze geometries already emerging during the
maintenance periods before behavioural reporting. These findings disclose
a wealth of information in gaze patterns during visuospatial working
memory and indicate systematic changes in representational format when
memory contents have been unattended.