Heatmaps of fixations and indoor scenes with heatmaps

Research

A full list of publications, and PDFs for each paper, can be found at michellemramey.com/publications.

The main topics we investigate in the lab, and some of our findings under each, are outlined below.

The eye movement patterns we make when viewing visual information, during both encoding and retrieval, appear to be critical for our ability to remember it. Our memory also exerts a strong influence on our eye movements.

We investigate these bidirectional interactions in a variety of domains, with the primary goal of understanding memory functioning itself. We focus on three functionally distinct memory processes: recollection, familiarity, and unconscious memory.

So far, we have found:

Our general knowledge of the world, in the form of schemas, has a strong influence on our memories. For example, if something violates our schemas (e.g., if we last put our keys in an unusual place, and are trying to remember where they are), we are more likely to struggle to remember it than if something is in line with our schemas (e.g., keys in typical place).

We aim to understand the mechanisms underlying these effects, particularly in terms of the extent to which effects occur during encoding or retrieval, and which memory processes are involved.

Currently, our projects mainly focus on how schemas bias our memory decisions, working from a Bayesian reconstruction framework. So far, we have found:

  • Schemas bias our memories primarily when our underlying memory is weak. Unconscious memory, familiarity, and recollection each reduce the effects of schemas on spatial recall accuracy, with recollection often abolishing schema effects entirely.
  • Schemas differentially interact with different memory processes to guide eye movements: schema knowledge is prioritized alongside recollection, but prioritized above unconscious memory, in guiding eye movements during search.
    • Ramey et al., in press, Psychonomic Bulletin and Review

Why is it that we can recognize someone, but not remember where we know them from? This phenomenon is driven by familiarity, a recognition process that supports vague, gist-like memory. Vivid, detailed recollection is quite well understood, but familiarity is much more mysterious; it is typically measured as any recognition occurring without recollection. There are many competing theories for what familiarity is, how it functions, and the extent to which it differs from unconscious memory.

We aim to develop new paradigms and methods for probing familiarity-based memory to further our understanding of the mechanisms giving rise to it. So far, we have found that:

Given that memory, visual attention, and the use of schema knowledge change as we get older, we have recently begun investigating the topics above with respect to cognitive aging as well. Our goal is to understand not only what aspects of memory are impaired in older age, but also what aspects may be improved with age; for example, how the aging brain might strategically leverage the fact that knowledge increases with age.

So far, we have found:

In addition to advancing theory, we aim to develop new ways to probe cognitive processes using eyetracking within memory and beyond. One guiding goal is to try to create alternatives to standard measures that have been based on experimenter-selected cutoffs or parameters (e.g., counting all fixations within 2 degrees as a refixation; dividing scenes into arbitrary numbers of regions) by developing novel continuous measures that reduce researcher degrees of freedom and improve replicability of results.

So far, we have developed new measures of: