Visual Working Memory Items Drift Apart Due to Active, Not Passive, Maintenance

How are humans capable of maintaining detailed representations of visual items in memory? When required to make fine discriminations, we sometimes implicitly differentiate memory representations away from each other to reduce interitem confusion. However, this separation of representations can inadvertently lead memories to be recalled as biased away from other memory items, a phenomenon termed repulsion bias. Using a nonretinotopically specific working memory paradigm, we found stronger repulsion bias with longer working memory delays, but only when items were actively maintained. These results suggest that (a) repulsion bias can reflect a mnemonic phenomenon, distinct from perceptually driven observations of repulsion bias; and (b) mnemonic repulsion bias is ongoing during maintenance and dependent on attention to internally maintained memory items. These results support theories of working memory where items are represented interdependently and further reveals contexts where stronger attention to working memory items during maintenance increases repulsion bias between them.

Automated summary

Research has found that stronger repulsion bias occurs with longer working memory delays, particularly when items are actively maintained, indicating that mnemonic repulsion bias is an ongoing phenomenon dependent on attention to internally maintained memory items. This supports theories of working memory where items are represented interdependently and highlights how stronger attention to working memory items during maintenance can increase repulsion bias between them.