A systematic review of eye movements during autobiographical recall: Does the mind's eye look at pictures of personal memories?

Abstract

Retrieving personal memories is usually accompanied by eye movements. Although the functional significance of eye movements during retrieval is relatively well established in the case of episodic memory, their role in autobiographical memory is not clearly delineated in the literature. This systematic review critically examines existing studies in the field to summarize the current understanding of eye movements during autobiographical recall, leading to three conclusions. First, eye movements can be taken to reflect the retrieval of mental visual images in autobiographical memory. Second, eye movements may serve a functional role and support recall by helping retrieve visual details of the memory. Third, eye movements appear to be modulated by various aspects of the retrieval process, suggesting that they could meaningfully reflect aspects of the cognitive processes at play. The discussion highlights the major limitations of current research and proposes suggestions for future studies that will allow developing a more robust theoretical framework.