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Working Memory

Working Memory

Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this...

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Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Spatial Attention in Serial Order Working Memory: An EEG Study.

Vesal Rasoulzadeh¹, Muhammet Ikbal Sahan¹, Jean-Philippe van Dijck^1,2

¹Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Gent 9000, Belgium.

Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)

|December 11, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Retrieving items from verbal working memory (WM) involves spatial attention, similar to processing external information. This study shows that accessing serial information in WM uses spatial attention processes, impacting WM models.

Keywords:

ADAN EDAN alpha oscillations spatial attention verbal working memory

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Theoretical models link serial order processing to position markers, but their nature is unclear.
Spatial representations are implicated in verbal working memory (WM) serial position marking.
Spatial attention shifts were hypothesized but unproven for accessing verbal WM items.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of spatial attention in serial order retrieval from verbal working memory (WM).
To determine if electrophysiological signatures of spatial attention in verbal WM match those in visuospatial WM and external space.
To provide evidence for the mechanisms underlying serial order recall in verbal WM.

Main Methods:

Continuous electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during a verbal WM task.
Analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs) including directing attention negativity (DAN).
Frequency domain analysis of EEG data, focusing on alpha band suppression.

Main Results:

Memory search in verbal WM elicited directing attention negativity (DAN) contralateral to item position in mental space.
Posterior alpha suppression was observed contralateral to the item's position.
These electrophysiological signatures align with those found in visuospatial WM and external spatial attention tasks.

Conclusions:

Spatial attention mechanisms are demonstrably involved in retrieving serially ordered information from verbal WM.
The findings support models of WM that integrate spatial attention for serial order recall.
This research clarifies the characteristics of position marking in verbal WM.