Retro-cues during maintenance dynamically modulate working memory representations and confer large performance benefits¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
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q2 i? Retro-cues trigger top-down biasing of maintained representations and consistently confer large benefits to WM performance; Kuo et al. showed modulation of the WM representations themselves, not just anticipatory attention to the probe. → Gazzaley A 2012
Evidence¶
Gazzaley A 2012¶
Gazzaley A, Nobre AC. (2012). Top-down modulation: Bridging selective attention and working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.11.014
q2 · i? · review · r2
Review synthesis of behavioral and neural retro-cue studies in delayed-response tasks. Kuo et al. used spatial retro-cues eliminating anticipatory spatial attention to the probe, with CDA ERP evidence providing "strong support for the ability to dynamically modulate WM representations themselves during the maintenance period".
"They trigger top-down biasing mechanisms that operate upon representations being maintained in WM and consistently confer large benefits to WM performance"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Selective attention facilitates working memory retrieval, and selecting from WM resembles visual search — related
- rTMS of right IFJ causally reduces top-down modulation during encoding and working memory accuracy — related
- Early (within ~100 ms) attentional modulation during encoding predicts subsequent working memory accuracy — related
- Pop-up cues contributed only modestly to note taking, triggering note taking in under 4% of instances — related
- Age-related deficits in top-down modulation underlie much of older adults' working memory impairment — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Predictive cues aid transfer of perceptual representations into working memory via pre-encoding top-down modulation — related
- Perceptual attention is probably necessary but not sufficient for encoding stimuli into working memory — related
- Distraction during maintenance impairs working memory, with distractor processing inversely related to recognition accuracy — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
retro-cues-dynamically-modulate-wm-maintenance |
title |
Retro-cues during maintenance dynamically modulate working memory representations and confer large performance benefits |
description |
Retro-cues during maintenance dynamically modulate working memory representations and confer large performance benefits |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2012 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — gazzaley-a-2012 |
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