Are eye movements and covert shifts of attention functional for memory retrieval?

During memory retrieval, people tend to look back at locations where the information was previously presented, known as the Looking at Nothing effect (LAN). Scholz et al. [2018] reported that LAN can be functional for memory not only through eye movements (EM) but also by covert shifts of attention (CA). In our study, we aimed to replicate their findings in an associative recognition task. During encoding, participants were twice presented with three word-pairs at three locations. At retrieval, we manipulated EM or CA to a congruent, incongruent, or central location with a digit tracking task and simultaneously tested their memory with aural cues. We observed a trend with higher accuracy for the congruent over incongruent trials for both EM and CA, however, this trend was not credible statistically. We discuss the differences in studies and implications for testing the link between attention, eye movements and memory. Data and Analysis Scripts: https://osf.io/xf9sb/