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Working memory demands modulate memory brain state engagement

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

DT Nguyen¹ (), Nicole Long¹; ¹University of Virginia

A growing body of evidence suggests a strong overlap between the domains of memory and attention. Specifically, encoding new experiences may reflect external attention (focusing on sensory information), whereas retrieval of previously stored representations may reflect internal attention (focusing on stored information such as task goals). Maintaining information in working memory recruits internal attention, meaning that to the extent that mnemonic states track attention, they should be recruited in service of working memory. Our aim in the present study is to directly connect encoding and retrieval brain states with external and internal attentional states. Using scalp electroencephalography, we conducted a working memory task in which participants performed either a target detection task or a change detection task. The logic of this approach is that working memory maintenance is needed for change detection, but not for target detection. Using multivariate decoding of mnemonic brain states, we find significantly greater retrieval state evidence during the delay interval of the change detection task compared to the target detection task. We find that encoding state evidence during the display interval tracks set size across both tasks, whereas retrieval state evidence during the delay interval selectively tracks set size in the change detection task. Together, these results suggest that memory states map onto the internal/external axis of attention.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic