The reactivation of task rules triggers the reactivation of task-relevant items

Yağmur D Şentürk; Nursima Ünver; Can Demircan; Tobias Egner; Eren Günseli

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2023.10.024

The reactivation of task rules triggers the reactivation of task-relevant items

Cortex. 2024 Feb:171:465-480. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.10.024. Epub 2023 Nov 23.

Authors

Yağmur D Şentürk¹, Nursima Ünver², Can Demircan³, Tobias Egner⁴, Eren Günseli³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Sabancı University, Istanbul, Türkiye. Electronic address: ydsenturk@gmail.com.
² Department of Psychology, Sabancı University, Istanbul, Türkiye; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: nursimaunver@sabanciuniv.edu.
³ Department of Psychology, Sabancı University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
⁴ Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.

PMID: 38141571
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.10.024

Abstract

Working memory (WM) describes the temporary storage of task-relevant items and procedural rules to guide action. Despite its central importance for goal-directed behavior, the interplay between WM and long-term memory (LTM) remains poorly understood. Recent studies have shown that repeated use of the same task-relevant item in WM results in a hand-off of the storage of that item to LTM, and switching to a new item reactivates WM. To further elucidate the rules governing WM-LTM interactions, we here planned to probe whether a change in task rules, independent of a switch in task-relevant items, would also lead to WM reactivation of maintained items. To this end, we used scalp-recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) data, specifically the contralateral delay activity (CDA), to track WM item storage while manipulating repetitions and changes in task rules and task-relevant items across trials in a visual WM task. We tested two rival hypotheses: If changes in task rules result in a reactivation of the target item representation, then the CDA should increase when a task change is cued even when the same target has been repeated across trials. However, if the reactivation of a task-relevant item only depends on the mnemonic availability of the item itself instead of the task it is used for, then only the changes in task-relevant items should reactivate the representations. Accordingly, the CDA amplitude should decrease for repeated task-relevant items independently of a task change. We found a larger CDA on task-switch compared to task-repeat trials, suggesting that the reactivation of task rules triggers the reactivation of task-relevant items in WM. By demonstrating that WM reactivation of LTM is interdependent for task rules and task-relevant items, this study informs our understanding of visual WM and its interplay with LTM. PREREGISTERED STAGE 1 PROTOCOL: https://osf.io/zp9e8 (date of in-principle acceptance: 19/12/2021).

Keywords: Contralateral delay activity; Declarative memory; Memory reactivation (or reinstatement); Procedural memory; Working memory.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Attention* / physiology
Cues
Electroencephalography / methods
Humans
Memory, Long-Term
Memory, Short-Term* / physiology