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Eye Hear You: Eye movements to mental imagery during speech comprehension in noise

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 2 - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm PST, Salon D.

Geneva Mariotti^1,2 (), Jennifer D. Ryan^2,1,3, Björn Herrmann^2,1; ¹University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, ²Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Academy of Research and Education, ³University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry

Perhaps counterintuitive, the study of eye movements can provide an index of how well we can hear. Under challenging listening conditions, such as in speech comprehension in background noise, eye movements decrease. However, eye movements tend to increase during mental imagery and memory instantiation, which may be useful in supporting listening efforts during challenging conditions. Young adults (n = 64, Mage = 22.28) listened to and recalled visually rich (concrete scenes) or abstract descriptions while eye-tracked on a blank screen. Listening difficulty was manipulated with two levels of background babble. Participants recalled concrete descriptions more accurately, particularly in easier listening conditions. During listening, eye movements (gaze dispersion, fixation rate, and saccade amplitudes) were reduced under difficult conditions and overall increased for abstract descriptions. Time-course analyses revealed that gaze dispersion tracked spatial features of concrete descriptions but no other relational information. During recall, eye movements were higher for abstract descriptions and reflected listening difficulty for concrete passages. Notably, a peak in gaze dispersion preceded the recall of spatial details in concrete passages, and this pattern was seen in those with high recall performance. These results indicate that both speech content and listening environment shape the recruitment of eye movements. When listening to visualizable speech, eye movements may be co-opted to represent the spatial components of imagined content. These eye movements may be reinstated during subsequent recall to support memory accuracy. Thus, the oculomotor system may actively support speech comprehension through its role in mental imagery.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Multisensory