Nikolov, T.Y., Allen, R.J. orcid.org/0000-0002-1887-3016, Havelka, J. orcid.org/0000-0002-7486-2135 et al. (3 more authors) (2025) Navigating the mind's eye: Understanding gaze shifts in visuospatial bootstrapping. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 78 (2). 391 -404. ISSN 1747-0218
Abstract
Visuospatial bootstrapping refers to the well-replicated phenomena in which serial recall in a purely verbal task is boosted by presenting digits within the familiar spatial layout of a typical telephone keypad. The visuospatial bootstrapping phenomena indicates that additional support comes from long-term knowledge of a fixed spatial pattern, and prior experimentation supports the idea that access to this benefit depends on the availability of the visuospatial motor system. We investigate this by tracking participants’ eye movements during encoding and retention of verbal lists to learn whether gaze patterns support verbal memory differently when verbal information is presented in the familiar visual layout. Participants’ gaze was recorded during attempts to recall lists of seven digits in three formats: centre of the screen, typical telephone keypad, or a spatially identical layout with randomised number placement. Performance was better with the typical than with the novel layout. Our data show that eye movements differ when encoding and retaining verbal information that has a familiar layout compared with the same verbal information presented in a novel layout, suggesting recruitment of different spatial rehearsal strategies. However, no clear link between gaze pattern and recall accuracy was observed, which suggests that gazes play a limited role in retention, at best.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author produced version of an article published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited |
Keywords: | Short-term memory; working memory; eye movements; rehearsal; attention |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 03 Dec 2024 09:54 |
Last Modified: | 10 Mar 2025 21:20 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/17470218241282426 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:220348 |