Working Memory Prioritization Changes Bidirectional Interactions with Visual Inputs

Items stored in visual working memory often differ in priority. Typically, observers will shift theirinternal attention towards items that are relevant for impending behavior and away from those thatmay become relevant later. These distinct states of priority are theorized to influence bidirectionalinteractions between memoranda and new visual inputs by modulating their susceptibility toretroactive and proactive report biases, respectively. However, prior research has produced limitedand conflicting evidence on this topic due to reliance on inconsistent retrodictive cues (retro-cues)that incentivize memory prioritization. To address this, we used a double-serial retro-cue paradigmthat incentivized the complete prioritization of one of two unfamiliar shape memoranda for use ina comparison with a perceptual probe before a second, independent cue instructed observers toreport one of their two memories (Experiments 1-2) or the perceptual probe itself (Experiment 2).We found that observers reported robust retroactive and proactive biases, but that only retroactivebiases were modulated by prioritization. Reports of prioritized memories were more precise andcontained smaller attractive biases towards the probe than unprioritized memories, whereas probereports were biased comparably towards each. These findings reveal an asymmetrical effect ofprioritization on the reciprocal interactions between new and existing visual representations.