Baycrest

26 BrainMatters SPRING/SUMMER 2018 EYES tell all about memory C an't get an image out of your head? Your eyes are helping to keep it there. Even though you are not aware of it, your eyes play a role in searing an image into your brain long after you have stopped looking. Researchers have found evidence that the brain uses eye movements to help people recall vivid moments from the past, paving the way for the development of visual tests that could alert doctors earlier about those at risk for neurodegenerative illnesses. According to a recent study, when people create a detailed mental image in their head, not only do their eyes move in the same way as when they first saw the picture, their brains show a similar pattern of activity. "There's a theory that when you remember something, it's like the brain is putting together a puzzle and reconstructing the experience of that moment from separate parts," says Dr. Bradley Buchsbaum, senior author on the study and scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI). "The pattern of eye movements is like the blueprint that the brain uses to piece different parts of the memory together so that we experience it as a whole." Scientists have turned their attention towards understanding the link between what we see to how we remember. Since these systems support one another, this line of work also offers the potential to develop eye training programs to improve recollection. "The pattern of eye movements is like the blueprint that the brain uses to piece different parts of the memory together so that we experience it as a whole." For example, when the information you try to remember becomes too much for the brain, apparently we turn to our eyes for help, suggests findings by Dr. Jennifer Ryan, an RRI senior scientist who specializes in using eye tracking to study memory. "The same way a person repeats the digits of a phone number to remember it, the eyes help the brain strengthen the memory by repeating the same pattern of eye movements," says Dr. Ryan. "We do this unknowingly to help us recall what we see and we do this more often when we're older." Older adults naturally tap into this strategy to bolster memory when remembering becomes difficult. "By understanding how we naturally use eye movements to compensate for declining areas of the brain, we could tap into this strategy as an intervention to boost memory performance among healthy older adults and adults with memory disorders," says Dr. Ryan. For more articles like this visit: baycrest.org/BrainMatters/Eyes

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