Authors
Ingmar de Vries, Joram van Driel, Christian Olivers
Publication date
2018/9/1
Journal
Journal of Vision
Volume
18
Issue
10
Pages
365-365
Publisher
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
Description
Visual search is assumed to be guided by an active visual working memory representation of what we are currently looking for. This attentional template can be dissociated from accessory memory representations that are only needed prospectively, for a future task, and that until then should be prevented from guiding attention. Little is known about how the brain sequentially prioritizes, and switches between memory representations for successive task goals. We measured EEG while human observers performed two consecutive working memory-guided visual search tasks. Prior to the first search task, a cue instructed observers which item to look for first (current template), and which second (prospective template). During the first delay, leading up to the first of the two searches, posterior alpha power (8-14 Hz) was more suppressed contralateral to the memory item. These lateralized alpha dynamics were stronger if …