Quality and accessibility of visual working memory during cognitive control of attentional guidance: A Bayesian model comparison approach

Working memory (WM) can guide visual attention toward memory-matching objects. This influence of WM on attention can be modulated by cognitive control, such that attentional guidance is strategically suppressed or enhanced depending on whether WM contents are reliably hurtful or helpful for the current task. Cognitive control over memory-based guidance has been hypothesized to operate via some modulation of the WM representation itself, but it is unclear whether this modulation affects representational quality (i.e., how precise is it?) or accessibility of WM content (i.e., how easily is it remembered or forgotten?). Using probabilistic model fitting and Bayesian model comparison techniques, we show that cognitive control over memory-based guidance impacts the probability of remembering, but not the precision of, items in WM. These findings suggest that the WM-attention interaction may depend on distinct functional states in WM, which are in turn characterized by how easily an item is remembered or forgotten.

Duke Scholars

Author Tobias Egner Psychology & Neuroscience