How does the neural representation of visual working memory content vary with behavioural priority? To address this, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while subjects performed a continuous-performance 2-back working memory task with oriented-grating stimuli. We tracked the transition of the neural representation of an item (n) from its initial encoding, to the status of ‘unprioritized memory item' (UMI), and back to ‘prioritized memory item', with multivariate inverted encoding modelling. Results showed that the representational format was remapped from its initially encoded format into a distinctive ‘opposite' representational format when it became a UMI and then mapped back into its initial format when subsequently prioritized in anticipation of its comparison with item n + 2. Thus, contrary to the default assumption that the activity representing an item in working memory might simply get weaker when it is deprioritized, it may be that a process of priority-based remapping helps to protect remembered information when it is not in the focus of attention.

视觉工作记忆内容的神经表示如何随行为优先级而变化？为了解决这个问题，我们记录了脑电图（EEG），而受试者则通过定向光栅刺激执行了连续表现的2背工作记忆任务。我们使用多元反向编码建模跟踪了项（n）的神经表示从其初始编码到“未优先存储项”（UMI）的状态，再回到“优先存储项”的状态。结果表明，当表示形式成为UMI时，其表示形式已从其初始编码格式重新映射为独特的“对立”表示形式，然后在随后优先考虑与第n项进行比较时将其映射回其初始格式。+2。因此，与默认假设相反，默认的假设是表示工作记忆中某个项目的活动在被取消优先级时可能会变得很弱，这可能是基于优先级的重新映射过程有助于保护记忆中未记忆的信息。注意的焦点。