Eye movements reflect capacity-dependent organization of working memory
- 1Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
- 2Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Abstract
Human cognition is capacity-limited, requiring strategies to actively structure information. Eye movements offer a natural mechanism for sequential sampling, but whether such sequences reflect memory organization is unknown. We developed a working-memory task where color-frequency pairings created a latent ordinal structure to optimally reduce memory load. Across two experiments, gaze patterns spontaneously aligned with this structure. Participants sampled items following this sequence during encoding and revisited them during maintenance. Critically, the expression of this structure depended on cognitive demand. In a 3-item task, high performers showed robust sequential sampling during encoding, whereas lower performers compensated with replay-like revisitation during maintenance. Under higher demand (4 items), encoding-based organization was disrupted, and structured revisitation emerged primarily during maintenance. These findings suggest that eye movements provide an overt expression of an internally generated organizational process that flexibly adapts to cognitive demands, revealing a behavioral analogue to neural replay when encoding resources are strained.
Human working memory is capacity-limited, requiring information to be actively organized to support efficient encoding and maintenance. This study shows that spontaneous eye movements track latent memory structure and adapt to cognitive demand, offering a noninvasive marker of cognitive load and memory organization.
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BibTeX
@article{huang2026movements,
title = {{Eye movements reflect capacity-dependent organization of working memory}},
author = {Qiaoli Huang and Christian F Doeller},
journal = {PLOS Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3004047},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3004047},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Eye movements reflect capacity-dependent organization of working memory
AU - Qiaoli Huang
AU - Christian F Doeller
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - PLOS Biology
DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3004047
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3004047
AB - Human cognition is capacity-limited, requiring strategies to actively structure information. Eye movements offer a natural mechanism for sequential sampling, but whether such sequences reflect memory organization is unknown. We developed a working-memory task where color-frequency pairings created a latent ordinal structure to optimally reduce memory load. Across two experiments, gaze patterns spontaneously aligned with this structure. Participants sampled items following this sequence during encoding and revisited them during maintenance. Critically, the expression of this structure depended on cognitive demand. In a 3-item task, high performers showed robust sequential sampling during encoding, whereas lower performers compensated with replay-like revisitation during maintenance. Under higher demand (4 items), encoding-based organization was disrupted, and structured revisitation emerged primarily during maintenance. These findings suggest that eye movements provide an overt expression of an internally generated organizational process that flexibly adapts to cognitive demands, revealing a behavioral analogue to neural replay when encoding resources are strained. Human working memory is capacity-limited, requiring information to be actively organized to support efficient encoding and maintenance. This study shows that spontaneous eye movements track latent memory structure and adapt to cognitive demand, offering a noninvasive marker of cognitive load and memory organization.
SN - 1545-7885
SN - 1544-9173
ER -