AI Summary
The article discusses the concept of serial dependence in visual perception and working memory, where prior information can both bias behavioral reports and stabilize memory representations. The study proposes a reactivation and integration mechanism to explain these contradictory effects. Through EEG data analysis, the researchers found that reactivation of prior reported orientation during a visual working memory task was predictive of the magnitude of serial dependency biases. These reactivated representations integrated with current memory items, improving the ability to decode memory contents. The findings suggest that prior reports in visual working memory tasks are reactivated on subsequent trials and integrated with current memory representations, driving both biasing and stabilization effects attributed to serial dependence.
Serial dependence has shown seemingly contradictory effects on visual perception and working memory. While serial dependence promotes perpetual and mnemonic stability, it biases behavioral reports toward prior information. The neural mechanisms that drive both biasing and adaptive stabilizing effects are not well understood. We proposed and tested a reactivation and integration mechanism that can account for these contradictory effects. We used multivariate pattern analyses of EEG data (26 human participants, 17 females, 9 males) to examine the reactivation of prior reported orientation during the delay period of a visual working memory task. The reactivation strength of prior reports, but not prior sensory items, was predictive of the magnitude of serial dependency biases. These reactivated representations integrated with the representation of the current memory item and improved the ability to decode the current contents of memory. Overall, our data provide convergent evidence suggesting that prior reports in a visual working memory task are reactivated on the subsequent trial and become integrated with current memory representations. This similarity-dependent reactivation mechanism drives both report biasing and stabilization effects attributed to serial dependence in working memory.