Abstract
How does the neural representation of visual working memory content vary with behavioural priority? To address this, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while subjects performed a continuous-performance 2-back working memory task with oriented-grating stimuli. We tracked the transition of the neural representation of an item (n) from its initial encoding, to the status of ‘unprioritized memory item' (UMI), and back to ‘prioritized memory item', with multivariate inverted encoding modelling. Results showed that the representational format was remapped from its initially encoded format into a distinctive ‘opposite' representational format when it became a UMI and then mapped back into its initial format when subsequently prioritized in anticipation of its comparison with item n + 2. Thus, contrary to the default assumption that the activity representing an item in working memory might simply get weaker when it is deprioritized, it may be that a process of priority-based remapping helps to protect remembered information when it is not in the focus of attention.
Highlights
One critical property of cognitive control is its ability to prioritize stored memory content based on its relevance for the immediate behavioural context
We propose to investigate whether the phenomenon of priority-based recoding of the unprioritized memory item (UMI) will extend to a novel task—a continuous-performance 2-back working memory task—with a neurophysiological technique that has not yet been used to address this question—EEG
How does the brain keep information ‘in mind’ when it is outside the focus of attention? there are many possibilities for the representation of UMIs, the recent literature has emphasized three: patterns of synaptic weights that persist after attention is shifted away and elevated activity declines (e.g. 16 [3,23,24]); active retention in circuits that are specialized for working memory storage (e.g. [7,25]); and active retention in a representation format that is different from the format of the PMI (e.g. [8,9])
Summary
One critical property of cognitive control is its ability to prioritize stored memory content based on its relevance for the immediate behavioural context. How the neural representation of information held in working memory changes with its priority status remains poorly understood. Research exploring the effect of prioritization of working memory often employs a retrocueing task. A dual serial retrocueing (DSR) task begins with the presentation of two sample items, followed by a retrocue that royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos R.
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