Eye Movements Enhance Memory for Individuals Who Are Strongly Right-handed and Harm It for Individuals Who Are Not

Overview

Journal Psychon Bull Rev

Specialty Psychology

Date 2008 Jun 24

PMID 18567248

Citations 13

Authors

Keith B Lyle

Jessica M Logan

Henry L Roediger 3rd

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Subjects who make repetitive saccadic eye movements before a memory test subsequently exhibit superior retrieval in comparison with subjects who do not move their eyes. It has been proposed that eye movements enhance retrieval by increasing interaction of the left and right cerebral hemispheres. To test this, we compared the effect of eye movements on subsequent recall (Experiment 1) and recognition (Experiment 2) in two groups thought to differ in baseline degree of hemispheric interaction-individuals who are strongly right-handed (SR) and individuals who are not (nSR). For SR subjects, who naturally may experience less hemispheric interaction than nSR subjects, eye movements enhanced retrieval. In contrast, depending on the measure, eye movements were either inconsequential or even detrimental for nSR subjects. These results partially support the hemispheric interaction account, but demand an amendment to explain the harmful effects of eye movements for nSR individuals.

Citing Articles

No Incidental Memory Advantage for Mixed Handed vs. Consistent Right Handed Participants: Conflicting Results From Earlier Research.

Johansen H, Rusten E, Westerhausen R Percept Mot Skills. 2024; 131(6):2049-2068.

PMID: 39394770 PMC: 11575099. DOI: 10.1177/00315125241291266.

Re-evaluating whether bilateral eye movements influence memory retrieval.

Roberts B, Fernandes M, MacLeod C PLoS One. 2020; 15(1):e0227790.

PMID: 31986171 PMC: 6984731. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227790.

Saccade-induced retrieval enhancement and the recovery of perceptual item-specific information.

Parker A, Poole J, Dagnall N Cogn Process. 2019; 21(2):223-237.

PMID: 31845162 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-019-00943-w.

Saccades and handedness interact to affect scene memory.

Ellmore T, Mackin B, Ng K PeerJ. 2018; 6:e5969.

PMID: 30479908 PMC: 6240432. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5969.

Replication Requires Psychological Rather than Statistical Hypotheses: The Case of Eye Movements Enhancing Word Recollection.

Phaf R Front Psychol. 2017; 7:2023.

PMID: 28082942 PMC: 5183604. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02023.

References

Jung-Beeman M . Bilateral brain processes for comprehending natural language. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005; 9(11):512-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.09.009. View

Propper R, Christman S, Phaneuf K . A mixed-handed advantage in episodic memory: a possible role of interhemispheric interaction. Mem Cognit. 2005; 33(4):751-7. DOI: 10.3758/bf03195341. View

Propper R, Christman S . Mixed- versus strong right-handedness is associated with biases towards "remember" versus "know" judgements in recognition memory: role of interhemispheric interaction. Memory. 2005; 12(6):707-14. DOI: 10.1080/09658210344000503. View

Zaidel D, Sperry R . Memory impairment after commissurotomy in man. Brain. 1974; 97(2):263-72. DOI: 10.1093/brain/97.1.263. View

Roediger 3rd H, Watson J, McDermott K, Gallo D . Factors that determine false recall: a multiple regression analysis. Psychon Bull Rev. 2001; 8(3):385-407. DOI: 10.3758/bf03196177. View

OLDFIELD R . The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia. 1971; 9(1):97-113. DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(71)90067-4. View

Kertesz A, Polk M, Howell J, Black S . Cerebral dominance, sex, and callosal size in MRI. Neurology. 1987; 37(8):1385-8. DOI: 10.1212/wnl.37.8.1385. View

Mitchell K, Johnson M, Raye C, Greene E . Prefrontal cortex activity associated with source monitoring in a working memory task. J Cogn Neurosci. 2004; 16(6):921-34. DOI: 10.1162/0898929041502724. View

Nolde S, Johnson M, Raye C . The role of prefrontal cortex during tests of episodic memory. Trends Cogn Sci. 2011; 2(10):399-406. DOI: 10.1016/s1364-6613(98)01233-9. View

10.

Phelps E, HIRST W, Gazzaniga M . Deficits in recall following partial and complete commissurotomy. Cereb Cortex. 1991; 1(6):492-8. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/1.6.492. View

11.

Lyle K, McCabe D, Roediger H . Handedness is related to memory via hemispheric interaction: evidence from paired associate recall and source memory tasks. Neuropsychology. 2008; 22(4):523-530. DOI: 10.1037/0894-4105.22.4.523. View

12.

Rosano C, Krisky C, Welling J, Eddy W, Luna B, Thulborn K . Pursuit and saccadic eye movement subregions in human frontal eye field: a high-resolution fMRI investigation. Cereb Cortex. 2001; 12(2):107-15. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/12.2.107. View

13.

Parker A, Dagnall N . Effects of bilateral eye movements on gist based false recognition in the DRM paradigm. Brain Cogn. 2006; 63(3):221-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2006.08.005. View

14.

Christman S, Garvey K, Propper R, Phaneuf K . Bilateral eye movements enhance the retrieval of episodic memories. Neuropsychology. 2003; 17(2):221-9. DOI: 10.1037/0894-4105.17.2.221. View

15.

Christman S, Propper R, Dion A . Increased interhemispheric interaction is associated with decreased false memories in a verbal converging semantic associates paradigm. Brain Cogn. 2004; 56(3):313-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2004.08.005. View

16.

Faust M, Ben-Artzi E, Harel I . Hemispheric asymmetries in semantic processing: evidence from false memories for ambiguous words. Brain Lang. 2008; 105(3):220-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2007.12.002. View

17.

Christman S, Propper R, Brown T . Increased interhemispheric interaction is associated with earlier offset of childhood amnesia. Neuropsychology. 2006; 20(3):336-45. DOI: 10.1037/0894-4105.20.3.336. View

18.

Witelson S . The brain connection: the corpus callosum is larger in left-handers. Science. 1985; 229(4714):665-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.4023705. View

19.

Cabeza R, Locantore J, Anderson N . Lateralization of prefrontal activity during episodic memory retrieval: evidence for the production-monitoring hypothesis. J Cogn Neurosci. 2003; 15(2):249-59. DOI: 10.1162/089892903321208187. View

20.

Propper R, Pierce J, Geisler M, Christman S, Bellorado N . Effect of bilateral eye movements on frontal interhemispheric gamma EEG coherence: implications for EMDR therapy. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2007; 195(9):785-8. DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e318142cf73. View