Helmholtz Lecture Freek Van Ede, November 21: Looking into working memory through microscopic eye-movements

Helmholtz lecture Freek Van Ede (Department of Cognitive Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Title: Looking into working memory through microscopic eye-movements

Abstract: To understand human cognition and behaviour, it is vital to understand the foundational processes by which humans select and transform internal representations ‘in mind’. Gaining access to these core internal working-memory processes, however, is not trivial. In my talk, I will discuss how the selection and transformation of visual representations in working memory can be read out from directional biases in miniscule eye movements known as microsaccades – an accessible peripheral fingerprint of attentional computations upstream in the brain’s oculomotor system. I will first unpack this central finding and its theoretical implications. Next, I will adopt a pragmatic perspective, sharing examples of how we have started to leverage microsaccade biases to track working-memory processes across space and time. I will show how this has helped to uncover novel principles governing the proactive use of working memory in dynamic settings and in actively behaving humans. Finally, I will address the challenge that microsaccade biases pose for inferences in neuroscientific studies of covert and internal attention and delineate how microsaccade biases relate to canonical neural modulations of attention in scalp EEG measurements. 

Location: Langeveld E3.14, Heidelberglaan 1 3584 CE Utrecht

Helmholtz Lectures take place from 4 to 5pm, with drinks afterwards in the lecture room.

Helmholtz agenda: https://helmholtzschool.nl/category/agenda/

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