Comparative search reveals the tradeoff between eye movements and working memory use in visual tasks

The experiments reported here provide an insight into how the use of working memory is influenced when eye movements become 'costlier' in a visual task. In our comparative search paradigm, each half of the screen contains a column of simple geometrical objects of three sizes and forms. Participants have to detect whether the two halves of the screen are exactly identical or contain a difference. The eye movement data recorded from two experiments provides evidence for a working memory versus eye movement tradeoff. Visual working memory use - within capacity limits - is flexibly adapted to optimize task performance for varying costs of eye movements.