What you don't know can't hurt you: Retro-cues benefit working memory regardless of prior knowledge in long-term memory.

Knowledge stored in long-term memory (LTM) impacts working memory (WM) overall, but it is unclear whether LTM facilitates focusing or switching attention in WM. We addressed this question using the retro-cue paradigm: Briefly presented arrays of individually calibrated numbers of shapes (concrete or abstract) were followed by a blank retention interval (no-cue) or a retro-cue to focus participants' attention to the to-be-probed shape. Experiment 3 included double retro-cue trials that required participants to switch their attention to a different shape.

Examining the role of attention during feature binding in visuospatial working memory.

The current experiments address the enduring debate regarding the role of attention in feature binding in visuospatial working memory by considering the nature of the to-be-bound features, i.e., whether they are intrinsic (integrated within the object, such as its color and shape) or extrinsic (not part of the object, such as its spatial location).