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Examining vivid recollection of autobiographical memories using fMRI and eye movement data

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Ryan Yeung¹ (ryeung@research.baycrest.org), Devin Sodums^1,2, Brian Levine^1,3; ¹Rotman Research Institute, ²Valparaiso University, ³University of Toronto

Vivid recollection is theorized to be supported by the visual and oculomotor systems. Activity of these systems could help instantiate perceptual or scene-based details, upon which feelings of vividness or reliving rely. Past studies have independently found relationships between vivid memory and visual brain regions (e.g., occipital cortex, precuneus), and between vivid memory and eye movements (e.g., more fixations). Here, we aim to examine relationships between all three: vivid memory, brain activity, and oculomotor activity. To do so, we reanalyzed data from an fMRI study (Palombo, 2013), in which 44 participants silently retrieved twenty autobiographical memories (AMs) in the scanner and provided ratings of subjective reexperiencing. These fMRI data have been preprocessed using fMRIprep, and will be further passed through DeepMReye to decode gaze position during the AM task (free viewing). We will then use these eye movement data to replicate the previously observed fixation-recall relationship and extend it to neuroimaging data. Specifically, we predict that the benefit of more fixations during AM retrieval will be recapitulated in brain regions related to vision and imagery. Results will help understand mechanisms of vivid recollection using subjective, neural, and oculomotor data.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic