Working memory processing boosts the retrieval of existing long-term memory representations

Understanding the interaction between short-term and long-term memory systems is essential for advancing our knowledge of human memory and learning. The current study examines whether processing in working memory, specifically attentional prioritization (Experiments 1 and 2) and testing (Experiment 2), can enhance the retrieval of recently encoded long-term memories. Eighty-six participants completed a three-phase task across two experiments. In the first phase, they learned object-location associations. In the second phase, using a retro-cue paradigm, these pairs reappeared with either informative (Experiments 1 and 2) or uninformative (Experiment 2) cues for a subsequent match-no-match test. In the final retrieval phase, participants recalled the locations associated with each object. Behavioral performance and electroencephalogram data recorded during this final retrieval phase of Experiment 1 revealed that attentional prioritization improved long-term memory retrieval. Experiment 2 indicated that prioritization and testing jointly enhance retrieval. These findings suggest that working memory does not only serve as a temporary store but has the capacity to actively strengthen long-term memory representations.