Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Inter-Item Competition in Visual Working Memory: The Role of Internal Attention

Internal attention can increase the priority of task-relevant items in visual working memory; however, it remains unclear whether this effect is limited to improving target reports or also alters how inter-item influences evolve over time across different spatial distances. The present study employed a retro-cue color recall task to examine whether internal attention changes the distance-dependent temporal dynamics of inter-item influences in visual working memory. Valid retro-cues significantly reduced target report errors and shifted responses closer to the target relative to the non-target. Under neutral-cue conditions, inter-item influences exhibited distance-dependent temporal differentiation: the relative attraction index decreased significantly with increasing cue-probe interval (CPI) in D1 but increased significantly in D3, and the temporal slopes differed significantly between D1 and D3. In the valid-cue condition, none of the CPI slopes reached significance. However, direct cross-cue comparisons showed a significant difference in CPI slope only for D1, not for D2 or D3. These findings suggest that internal attention modulates the distance-dependent temporal pattern of inter-item influences as expressed in behavioral reports.