The Influence of Spatiotemporal Structure on Recall Accuracy in Memory-Guided Saccade Sequences

Abstract

Saccades are a form of rapid eye movement that function to bring an item of interest onto the centre of the fovea, which is the location of highest visual acuity in the human eye. Saccades have been extensively used in neuroscience as a tool to measure underlying cognitive processes such as visual working memory. The goal of this study is to identify the effect of spatiotemporal structure on performance in memory-guided saccade sequences. In this study, participants took part in a behavioural task where they were presented with a series of sequences that differed with respect to path type, set size, and target presentation order. Results showed that having path types with structured spatial and temporal locations were most beneficial for recall accuracy and that recall was better for items presented earlier in a sequence. These results show that visual working memory capacity is improved by the presence of spatiotemporal structure.