Cognitive Processing Stages During Mental Folding Are Reflected in Eye Movements

Distinct cognitive processing stages in mental spatial transformation tasks can be identified in oculomotor behavior. We recorded eye movements whilst participants performed a mental folding task. Gaze behaviour was analyzed to provide insights into the relationship of task difficulty, gaze proportion on each stimulus, gaze switches between stimuli, and reaction times. We found a monotonic decrease in switch frequency and reference object gaze proportions with increasing difficulty level. Further, we found that these measures of gaze behaviour are related to the time taken to perform the mental transformation. We propose that the observed patterns of eye movements are indicative of distinct cognitive stages during mental folding. Lastly, further exploratory analyses are discussed.

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