# Neural indices of online and offline states in human working memory

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2023 · $99,981

## Abstract

PARENT GRANT PROJECT SUMMARY
 Visual working memory is a central cognitive system for maintaining active representations about currently
relevant information. Individual differences in working memory ability reflect a core cognitive ability, as shown
by robust correlations with fluid intelligence, scholastic achievement and other broad measures of intellectual
function. Furthermore, working memory deficits are a signature of many prevalent mental health disorders,
such as attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia and depression. Thus, a detailed
understanding of this system is important for understanding the cognitive effects of these disorders, and for
precise assessments of the efficacy of clinical interventions.
 The broad goal of this proposal is to enhance our understanding of the neural signals that index storage in
this online memory system, and to use those signals to refine cognitive models of human memory. A key
recent discovery is that the electrophysiological signals that index storage in working memory can be
divided into two distinct categories. One class of activity tracks the number of discrete “items” or
objects that are stored in working memory, without regard to the specific information associated with each
object. A second class of activity instead tracks the spatial positions that are currently prioritized in the
visual field, without regard to the number of independent objects occupying those positions. The proposed
work will pursue this insight, refining both neural and cognitive models of human working memory.
 Finally, while working memory plays a critical role in complex cognition, there is a clear consensus that
working memory must interact with qualitatively different memory systems (e.g., long term memory)
that store information “offline” or out of mind. While past work has often sought paradigms that allow a
“pure” assessment of working memory or long term memory, there is a strong need for work that directly
examines the dynamic collaboration between these systems. Thus, a central theme of this project will be to
identify the specific factors that encourage transitions between online and offline memory states.
Specifically, the proposal will follow up on past work showing that observers divide up ongoing continuous
experiences into discrete “event” representations, and that the boundaries between events influence which
pieces of information are integrated and segregated in memory. This project will use time-resolved
electrophysiological measures of storage in working memory to determine whether event boundaries prompt
the flushing of online memories to make way for information about subsequent events, even when there is
adequate capacity for concurrent storage. This will provide new insight into the specific cognitive operations
that determine how limited online memory capacity is deployed in complex cognitive tasks.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10828627
- **Project number:** 3R01MH087214-15S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** EDWARD AWH
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $99,981
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2009-09-22 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10828627

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10828627, Neural indices of online and offline states in human working memory (3R01MH087214-15S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10828627. Licensed CC0.

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