Factors influencing ocular motility during the performance of cognitive tasks.

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Abstract
The relationship between ocular motility and specific cognitive processes was examined in two experiments with normal adults. In Experiment 1 eye movements were videotaped as subjects attempted to answer verbal, visuospatial, or musical questions. Visuospatial questions elicited a lower lateral eye movement rate (EMR) than did verbal or musical questions. Similar differences in EMR were found for vertical eye movements. These results support a model in which ocular quiescence is attributed to interference between visual imagery and visual perception. In Experiment 2 lateral eye movements were recorded electrically as subjects attempted to answer low-, moderate-, and high-imagery questions that required either a constrained or an unconstrained memory search. Although imagery value had the expected effect on EMR, constrained questions elicited a lower EMR than did unconstrained questions even when the effect of imagery was eliminated through analysis of covariance. These findings imply that visual imagery is not necessary for the reduction of task-related EMR, but that ocular quiescence reflects an orienting response associated with a restricted memory search.

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