Enhanced Working Memory Representations for Rare Events

Rare events (oddballs) produce a variety of enhanced physiological responses relative to frequent events (standards), including the P3b component of the event-related potential (ERP) waveform. Previous research has suggested that the P3b is related to working memory, which implies that working memory representations will be enhanced for rare stimuli. To test this hypothesis, we devised a modified oddball paradigm where a target disk was presented at one of 16 different locations, which were divided into rare and frequent sets. Participants made a binary response on each trial to report whether the target appeared in the rare set or the frequent set. As expected, the P3b was much larger for stimuli appearing at a location within the rare set. We also included occasional probe trials in which the subject reported the exact location of the target. Accuracy was higher for rare than frequent locations. In addition, memory reports on rare trials were more accurate in participants with larger P3b amplitudes on rare trials (although reports were not more accurate for trials with larger P3b amplitudes within participants). We also applied multivariate pattern analysis to the ERP data to "decode" the remembered location of the target. Decoding accuracy was greater for locations within the rare set than for locations within the frequent set. We then replicated and extended our behavioral findings in a follow-up experiment. These behavioral and electrophysiological results demonstrate that although both frequent and rare events are stored in working memory, working memory performance is enhanced for rare oddball events. Impact StatementFor many decades, researchers have observed that rare events elicit a broad range of physiological responses, and there has been much speculation about the functional significance of these responses. One such response is the P3b component, which is a large voltage deflection in scalp EEG recordings. Over 40 years ago, the P3b was hypothesized to reflect "context updating" (now often called "working memory updating"). However, there has been no direct evidence that working memory is actually enhanced for rare, P3b-eliciting events. In the present study, we found that both behavioral and electrophysiological measures of working memory were enhanced for rare events. However, it is not clear that the increased P3b-related brain activity actually caused the enhancement of working memory.