The environments surrounding us are complex and dynamic. Constantly, we observe how objects move, change shape, or disappear from our visual field, just as happens when we look out the car window while driving. Therefore, in addition to the information we capture through our senses (perceptual information), humans also use a temporary memory system, known as working memory, which allows us to store and manipulate information for brief periods. Various investigations have shown that we can voluntarily prioritize this stored information. That is, we are capable of selecting and retrieving information that we have previously memorized, such as when we remember directions while driving and someone asks us for instructions.
However, until now it was unknown whether this temporarily stored information could be prioritized automatically and involuntarily by external stimuli, such as the flash of car headlights.
In a recent study published in the journal Journal of Memory and Language, the group of researchers from the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center, composed of Águeda Fuentes-Guerra Toral, Fabiano Botta, Juan Lupiáñez, Pedro Talavera, Elisa Martín-Arévalo, and Carlos González-García, conducted three experiments to evaluate this hypothesis.
The results demonstrated that, indeed, involuntary attention can automatically trigger the recall of information that we had temporarily stored in memory. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying this attentional process depend, in part, on the relevance of the stimuli's features (such as their location or color) at the moment they are memorized. Specifically, location appears to be a fundamental dimension in involuntary attentional selection, similarly to what happens at a perceptual level when something catches our attention and we quickly direct our gaze towards the source of the stimulus.
The results of this study represent the first steps in understanding the attentional selection of content in working memory, a crucial process for our efficient interaction with the environment. Likewise, they also highlight the similarities between the automatic attentional selection of content in memory and that of perceptual content.
Reference:
Fuentes-Guerra, Á., Botta, F., Lupiánez, J., Talavera, P., Martín-Arévalo, E., & González-García, C. (2025). Exogenous spatial attention selects associated novel bindings in working memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 140, 104571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2024.104571
Contact
Águeda Fuentes-Guerra - aguedafgt@ugr.es