Research indicates that eye movements can reveal expressions of memory for previously studied relationships. Specifically, eye movements are disproportionately drawn to test items that were originally studied with the test scene, compared to other equally familiar items in the test display – an effect known as preferential viewing (e.g., Hannula, Ryan, Tranel, & Cohen, 2007). Across four studies we assessed how strength-based differences in memory are reflected in preferential viewing. Participants studied objects superimposed on background scenes and were tested with three-object displays superimposed on the scenes viewed previously. Eye movements were monitored at test. In Experiment 1 we employed an item-method directed forgetting (DF) procedure to manipulate memory strength. In Experiment 2, viewing patterns were examined across differences in memory strength assessed through subjective confidence ratings. In Experiment 3, we used spaced repetitions to objectively strengthen items, and Experiment 4 involved a list-method DF manipulation. Across all experiments, eye movements consistently differentiated the effect of DF from other strength-based differences in memory, producing different viewing patterns. They also differentiated between incidental and successful intentional forgetting. Finally, despite a null effect in recognition accuracy in list-method DF, viewing patterns revealed both common as well as critical differences between list-method DF and item-method DF. We discuss the eye movement findings from the perspective of theoretical accounts of DF and other strength-based differences in memory.

研究表明，眼动可以揭示先前研究的关系的记忆表达。具体来说，与测试显示中其他同样熟悉的项目相比，眼动会不成比例地吸引到最初在测试场景中研究过的测试项目，这种现象称为优先观看（例如，Hannula，Ryan，Tranel和Cohen，2007年） 。在四项研究中，我们评估了在优先观看中如何体现出基于强度的记忆差异。参与者研究了叠加在背景场景上的对象，并通过叠加在先前查看的场景上的三对象显示进行了测试。在测试中监测眼睛的运动。在实验1中，我们采用了项目方法指导的遗忘（DF）程序来操纵记忆强度。在实验2中，通过主观置信度评估来评估记忆力差异的观察模式。在实验3中，我们使用间隔重复来客观地增强项目，而实验4涉及了列表方法DF操作。在所有实验中，眼球运动始终将DF的效果与其他基于强度的记忆差异区分开来，从而产生不同的观看模式。他们还区分了偶然遗忘和成功遗忘。最后，尽管列表方法DF的识别准确性没有影响，但查看模式却揭示了列表方法DF和项目方法DF之间的常见差异和关键差异。我们从DF和其他基于强度的内存差异的理论解释的角度讨论眼动结果。