Focusing attention in human working memory and long-term memory: benefits through dissociable processes

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe developed a new experimental approach to compare directly how attentional orienting facilitates retrieval in human working memory and long-term memory, and how selective attention within these different memory timescales impacts incoming sensory information processing. In two experiments with healthy young adults (Ns = 30 and 44), retrospective attention cues prioritised an item encoded in working memory or long-term memory. Participants then retrieved a memory item or performed a perceptual discrimination task. The cue was informative for the retrieval task but not for the perceptual task. Attentional orienting improved memory retrieval for both memory types and also enhanced discrimination for visual stimuli at the location matching the prioritised working memory or long-term memory item. Eye-tracking data revealed a striking dissociation in gaze biases related to orienting in working memory vs. long-term memory. The findings suggest potent and at least partly dissociable attention-orienting processes for different memory timescales.