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Working memory (WM) has limited capacity. This leaves attention with the important role of allowing into storage only the most relevant information. It is increasingly evident that attention is equally crucial for prioritizing representations within WM as the importance of individual items changes. Retrospective prioritization has been proposed to result from a focus of internal attention highlighting one of several representations. Here, we suggest an updated model, in which prioritization acts in multiple steps: first orienting towards and selecting a memory, and then reconfiguring its representational state in the service of upcoming task demands. Reconfiguration sets up an optimized perception-action mapping, obviating the need for sustained attention. This view is consistent with recent literature, makes testable predictions, and links WM with task switching and action preparation.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.tics.2017.03.010

Type

Journal article

Journal

Trends Cogn Sci

Publication Date

06/2017

Volume

21

Pages

449 - 461

Keywords

attention, focus of attention, latent information storage, retrocue, task set, working memory, Attention, Humans, Memory, Short-Term, Models, Psychological