Eye fixation patterns during mental imagery are similar to those during perception of the same picture, suggesting that oculomotor mechanisms play a role in mental imagery (i.e., the “looking at nothing” effect). Previous research has focused on the spatial similarities of eye movements during perception and mental imagery. The primary aim of this study was to assess whether the spatial similarity translates to the temporal domain. We used recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to assess the temporal structure of eye fixations in visual perception and mental imagery and we compared the temporal as well as the spatial characteristics in mental imagery with perception by means of Bayesian hierarchical regression models. We further investigated how person and picture-specific characteristics contribute to eye movement behavior in mental imagery. Working memory capacity and mental imagery abilities were assessed to either predict gaze dynamics in visual imagery or to moderate a possible correspondence between spatial or temporal gaze dynamics in perception and mental imagery. We were able to show the spatial similarity of fixations between visual perception and imagery and we provide first evidence for its moderation by working memory capacity. Interestingly, the temporal gaze dynamics in mental imagery were unrelated to those in perception and their variance between participants was not explained by variance in visuo-spatial working memory capacity or vividness of mental images. The semantic content of the imagined pictures was the only meaningful predictor of temporal gaze dynamics. The spatial correspondence reflects shared spatial structure of mental images and perceived pictures, while the unique temporal gaze behavior could be driven by generation, maintenance and protection processes specific to visual imagery. The unique temporal gaze dynamics offer a window to new insights into the genuine process of mental imagery independent of its similarity to perception

精神意象中的眼神固定模式与同一张图片的感知过程中的固视模式相似，表明动眼机制在精神意象中起作用（即“无视”效应）。先前的研究集中在感知和心理成像过程中眼睛运动的空间相似性。这项研究的主要目的是评估空间相似性是否转化为时域。我们使用递归量化分析（RQA）来评估视觉感知和心理图像中注视的时间结构，并通过贝叶斯层次回归模型比较了感知中心理图像的时空特征。我们进一步调查了人和特定于图片的特征如何促进心理意象中的眼动行为。评估工作记忆能力和心理成像能力，以预测视觉成像中的凝视动态，或调节感知和心理成像中时空凝视动态之间的可能对应关系。我们能够显示视觉感知和图像之间注视的空间相似性，并且我们通过工作记忆能力为其适度提供了第一个证据。有趣的是，心理意象中的时间凝视动态与感知中的动态无关，参与者之间的差异并不能通过视觉空间工作记忆能力的变化或心理影像的生动性来解释。想象图片的语义内容是时间凝视动态的唯一有意义的预测因子。空间对应反映了心理图像和感知图片的共享空间结构，而独特的时间凝视行为可以由视觉图像特定的生成，维护和保护过程来驱动。独特的时空注视动态特性提供了一个新的窗口，可提供新的见解，以了解心理图像的真实过程，而不论其与感知的相似性如何