There are marked individual differences in the recollection of personal past events or autobiographical memory (AM). Theory concerning the relationship between mnemonic and visual systems suggests that eye movements promote retrieval of spatiotemporal details from memory, yet assessment of this prediction within naturalistic AM has been limited. We examined the relationship of eye movements to free recall of naturalistic AM and how this relationship is modulated by individual differences in AM capacity. Participants freely recalled past episodes while viewing a blank screen under free and fixed viewing conditions. Memory performance was quantified with the Autobiographical Interview, which separates internal (episodic) and external (non-episodic) details. In Study 1, as a proof of concept, fixation rate was predictive of the number of internal (but not external) details recalled across both free and fixed viewing. In Study 2, using an experimenter-controlled staged event (a museum-style tour) the effect of fixations on free recall of internal (but not external) details was again observed. In this second study, however, the fixation-recall relationship was modulated by individual differences in autobiographical memory, such that the coupling between fixations and internal details was greater for those endorsing higher than lower episodic AM. These results suggest that those with congenitally strong AM rely on the visual system to produce episodic details, whereas those with lower AM retrieve such details via other mechanisms.

个人过去事件或自传记忆（AM）的回忆存在明显的个体差异。关于助记符和视觉系统之间关系的理论表明，眼球运动促进了从记忆中获取时空细节，但是在自然主义AM中对该预测的评估受到限制。我们研究了眼动与自然AM的自由回忆之间的关系，以及这种关系如何通过AM能力的个体差异来调节。参与者在自由和固定观看条件下观看黑屏时可以自由回忆过去的情节。记忆性能通过自传访谈进行量化，该访谈将内部（事件）细节和外部（非事件）细节分开。在研究1中，作为一种概念验证，注视率可以预测自由观看和固定观看中召回的内部（而非外部）细节的数量。在研究2中，使用实验者控制的上演事件（博物馆式的巡回演出），再次观察到注视对自由召回内部（而非外部）细节的影响。然而，在这项第二项研究中，注视-回忆关系受到自传体记忆中个体差异的调节，因此对于那些支持率较高的情节性AM而言，注视与内部细节之间的耦合更大。这些结果表明，具有先天性强AM的人依靠视觉系统来产生情节细节，而具有较低AM的人则通过其他机制检索此类细节。固定-回忆关系受到自传体记忆中个体差异的调节，因此对于那些认可高于较低情节性AM的人来说，固定和内部细节之间的耦合更大。这些结果表明，具有先天性强AM的人依靠视觉系统来产生情节细节，而具有较低AM的人则通过其他机制检索此类细节。固定-回忆关系受到自传体记忆中个体差异的调节，因此对于那些认可高于较低情节性AM的人来说，固定和内部细节之间的耦合更大。这些结果表明，具有先天性强AM的人依靠视觉系统来产生情节细节，而具有较低AM的人则通过其他机制检索此类细节。