Transient increases to apparent contrast by exogenous attention persist in visual working memory.

ABSTRACT: The sensory recruitment hypothesis posits that Visual Working Memory (VWM) maintenance uses the same cortical machinery as online perception, implying similarity between the two. Characterizing similarities and differences in these representations is critical for understanding how perceptions are reformatted into durable working memories. It is unknown whether the perceptual appearance effect brought by attention is maintained in VWM. We investigated how VWM depends on attentional state by examining how transient modulations from reflexive (exogenous) attentional orienting affect the appearance of VWM representations; particularly whether VWM takes a "snapshot" at the time of encoding, or transient attentional dynamics continue into VWM. Specifically, we assessed whether the transient modu

SUBMITTER: Huszar L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12449825 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature