Editing Working memory (section)

== Relation to attention ==
There is some evidence that optimal working memory performance links to the neural ability to focus attention on task-relevant information and to ignore distractions,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zanto TP, Gazzaley A | title = Neural suppression of irrelevant information underlies optimal working memory performance | journal = The Journal of Neuroscience | volume = 29 | issue = 10 | pages = 3059–3066 | date = March 2009 | pmid = 19279242 | pmc = 2704557 | doi = 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4621-08.2009 }}</ref> and that practice-related improvement in working memory is due to increasing these abilities.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Berry AS, Zanto TP, Rutman AM, Clapp WC, Gazzaley A | title = Practice-related improvement in working memory is modulated by changes in processing external interference | journal = Journal of Neurophysiology | volume = 102 | issue = 3 | pages = 1779–1789 | date = September 2009 | pmid = 19587320 | pmc = 2746773 | doi = 10.1152/jn.00179.2009 }}</ref> One line of research suggests a link between the working memory capacities of a person and their ability to control the orientation of attention to stimuli in the environment.<ref name="attention09">{{cite journal | vauthors = Fukuda K, Vogel EK | title = Human variation in overriding attentional capture | journal = The Journal of Neuroscience | volume = 29 | issue = 27 | pages = 8726–8733 | date = July 2009 | pmid = 19587279 | pmc = 6664881 | doi = 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2145-09.2009 }}</ref> Such control enables people to attend to information important for their current goals, and to ignore goal-irrelevant stimuli that tend to capture their attention due to their sensory [[salience (neuroscience)|saliency]] (such as an ambulance siren). The direction of attention according to one's goals is assumed to rely on "top-down" signals from the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) that biases processing in [[posterior cortex|posterior cortical areas]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Desimone R, Duncan J | title = Neural mechanisms of selective visual attention | journal = Annual Review of Neuroscience | volume = 18 | pages = 193–222 | year = 1995 | pmid = 7605061 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.ne.18.030195.001205 | s2cid = 14290580 }}</ref> Capture of attention by salient stimuli is assumed to be driven by "bottom-up" signals from subcortical structures and the primary sensory cortices.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Yantis S, Jonides J | title = Abrupt visual onsets and selective attention: voluntary versus automatic allocation | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance | volume = 16 | issue = 1 | pages = 121–134 | date = February 1990 | pmid = 2137514 | doi = 10.1037/0096-1523.16.1.121 }}</ref> The ability to override "bottom-up" capture of attention differs between individuals, and this difference has been found to correlate with their performance in a working-memory test for visual information.<ref name="attention09" /> Another study, however, found no correlation between the ability to override attentional capture and measures of more general working-memory capacity.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Mall JT, Morey CC, Wolff MJ, Lehnert F | title = Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: evidence from accuracy and eye movements | journal = Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics | volume = 76 | issue = 7 | pages = 1998–2014 | date = October 2014 | pmid = 24402698 | doi = 10.3758/s13414-013-0610-2 | s2cid = 25772094 | url = https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/105362/1/Morey.%20Visual%20selective.pdf }}</ref>