This review examines the link between working-memory processes (selection, rehearsal, transformation of mental representations) and spatial biases in microsaccades — tiny, involuntary eye movements — synthesizing findings across attention, memory, and eye-movement literature.
Working-memory content 'leaks' into directional biases in microsaccades, providing a reliable, externally measurable signal that can track internal working-memory processes; this association is described as 'remarkably reliable' across the reviewed literature.
As a narrative review, no original data are presented, limiting causal inference. The generalizability of microsaccade-based tracking across clinical populations and real-world tasks is not yet established.
Microsaccade monitoring may offer a non-invasive, low-cost complement to brain imaging for probing working memory — potentially useful in cognitive assessment contexts, though clinical translation remains premature.
