SPONTANEOUS EYE-MOVEMENTS DURING VISUAL-IMAGERY REFLECT THE CONTENT OF THE VISUAL SCENE

In nine naive subjects eye movements were recorded while subjects view ed and visualized four irregularly-checkered diagrams. Scanpaths, defi ned as repetitive sequences of fixations and saccades were found durin g visual imagery and viewing. Positions of fixations were distributed according to the spatial arrangement of subfeatures in the diagrams. F or a particular imagined diagrammatic picture, eye movements were clos ely correlated with the eye movements recorded while viewing the same picture. Thus eye movements during imagery are not random but reflect the content: of the visualized scene. The question is discussed whethe r scanpath eye movements play a significant functional role in the pro cess of visual imagery.