2025/06/11 by Damian Koevoet, Christoph Strauch, Marnix Naber +1 · 1 voice
Engineering · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Cognition #Cognitive psychology #Communication #Computer science #Engineering #Human-Automation Interaction and Safety #Iconic memory #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Neuroscience #Prioritization #Psychology #Sensory memory #Sensory system #Visual perception and processing mechanisms #Visual short-term memory #Working memory
paper · pdf · doi:10.3758/s13414-025-03103-9
published in Attention Perception & Psychophysics 87(7), 2129-2145 (Springer Science+Business Media)
openalex publication_date 2025/06/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Adaptive behavior necessitates the prioritization of the most relevant information in the environment (external) and in memory (internal). Internal prioritization is known to guide the selection of external sensory input, but the reverse may also be possible: Does the environment guide the prioritization of memorized material? Here, we addressed whether reappearing sensory input could facilitate the prioritization of other nonreappearing memorized items held in visual working memory (VWM). Participants (total n = 96) memorized three orientations. Crucially some, but not all, items maintained in VWM were made available again in the environment. These reappearing items never had to be reproduced later. Experiment 1 showed that the reappearance of all but one memory item benefited accuracy and speed to the same extent as a spatial retro cue. This shows that reappearing items allow for the dynamic prioritization of another nonreappearing memorized item. What aspects of the reappearing sensory input drive this effect? Experiments 2-4 demonstrated that prioritization was facilitated most if reappearing items matched VWM content in terms of both location and orientation. Sensory input fully matching VWM is possibly processed more efficiently and/or protects against interference, ultimately leading to stronger prioritization of other memory content. We propose that the link between sensory processing and VWM is bidirectional: internal representations guide the processing of sensory input, which in turn facilitates the prioritization of other VWM content to subserve adaptive behavior. All data and analysis scripts are available online ( https://osf.io/qzvkc/ ).