The World as an External Memory: The Price of Saccades in a Sensorimotor Task
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The World as an External Memory: The Price of Saccades in a Sensorimotor Task. / Melnik, Andrew; Schüler, Felix; Rothkopf, Constantin A; König, Peter.
In: FRONT BEHAV NEUROSCI, Vol. 12, 2018, p. 253.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The World as an External Memory: The Price of Saccades in a Sensorimotor Task
AU - Melnik, Andrew
AU - Schüler, Felix
AU - Rothkopf, Constantin A
AU - König, Peter
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Theories of embodied cognition postulate that the world can serve as an external memory. This implies that instead of storing visual information in working memory the information may be equally retrieved by appropriate eye movements. Given this assumption, the question arises, how we balance the effort of memorization with the effort of visual sampling our environment. We analyzed eye-tracking data in a sensorimotor task where participants had to produce a copy of a LEGO®-blocks-model displayed on a computer screen. In the unconstrained condition, the model appeared immediately after eye-fixation on the model. In the constrained condition, we introduced a 0.7 s delay before uncovering the model. The model disappeared as soon as participants made a saccade outside of the Model Area. To successfully copy a model of 8 blocks participants made saccades to the Model Area on average 7.9 times in the unconstrained condition and 5.2 times in the constrained condition. However, the mean duration of a trial was 2.9 s (14%) longer in the constrained condition even when taking into account the delayed visibility of the model. In this study, we found evidence for an adaptive shift in subjects' behavior toward memorization by introducing a price for a certain type of saccades. However, the response is not adaptive; it is maladaptive, as memorization leads to longer overall performance time.
AB - Theories of embodied cognition postulate that the world can serve as an external memory. This implies that instead of storing visual information in working memory the information may be equally retrieved by appropriate eye movements. Given this assumption, the question arises, how we balance the effort of memorization with the effort of visual sampling our environment. We analyzed eye-tracking data in a sensorimotor task where participants had to produce a copy of a LEGO®-blocks-model displayed on a computer screen. In the unconstrained condition, the model appeared immediately after eye-fixation on the model. In the constrained condition, we introduced a 0.7 s delay before uncovering the model. The model disappeared as soon as participants made a saccade outside of the Model Area. To successfully copy a model of 8 blocks participants made saccades to the Model Area on average 7.9 times in the unconstrained condition and 5.2 times in the constrained condition. However, the mean duration of a trial was 2.9 s (14%) longer in the constrained condition even when taking into account the delayed visibility of the model. In this study, we found evidence for an adaptive shift in subjects' behavior toward memorization by introducing a price for a certain type of saccades. However, the response is not adaptive; it is maladaptive, as memorization leads to longer overall performance time.
KW - Journal Article
U2 - 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00253
DO - 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00253
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 30515084
VL - 12
SP - 253
JO - FRONT BEHAV NEUROSCI
JF - FRONT BEHAV NEUROSCI
SN - 1662-5153
ER -