Dissociable neural and oculomotor processes during attentional selection within working memory and long-term memory

The relationship between working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM) has been a topic of considerable interest in cognitive neuroscience. While recent research has shown that attention can be directed to contents in both WM and LTM, the extent to which the underlying mechanisms are similar or distinct remains unclear. In this study, we employed simultaneous EEG and eye-tracking methods to investigate neural and oculomotor processes during a behavioural task that required participants to prioritize an item encoded in either WM or LTM for later reproduction, based on retrocues. Our findings reveal striking differences in neural and oculomotor processes following the onset of WM and LTM retrocues. Covert attention to contents in WM resulted in significant contralateral alpha power (8-12 Hz) suppression at posterior sites and pronounced gaze biases towards the direction of the prioritized item. In contrast, no contralateral alpha power suppression or significant gaze biases were observed during attentional selection within LTM. These results suggest dissociable mechanisms underlying attentional selection in WM and LTM and provide valuable insights into the long-debated relationship between these two memory systems.

This is a working paper and a preprint will be available soon.