Distinct eye movements for different cognitive processes as expressed in the face recognition task.

Contemporary research literature indicates that eye movements during the learning and testing phases can predict and affect future recognition processes. Nevertheless, only partial information exists regarding eye movements in the various components of recognition processes: Hits, Correct rejections, Misses and False Alarms (FA). In an attempt to address this issue, participants in this study viewed human faces in a yes/no recognition memory paradigm. They were divided into two groups - one group that carried out the testing phase immediately after the learning phase (n = 30) and another group with a 15-minute delay between phases (n = 28). The results showed that the Immediate group had a lower FA rate than the Delay group, and that no Hit rate differences were observed between the two groups. Eye movements differed between the recognition processes in the learning and the testing phases, and this pattern interacted with the group type. Hence, eye movement measures seem to track memory accuracy during both learning and testing phases and this pattern also interacts with the length of delay between learning and testing. This pattern of results suggests that eye movements are indicative of present and future recognition processes.