Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Flexible goal-directed behavior relies on selecting relevant internal goal representations and external sensations. Yet, these selection processes have classically been studied in isolation, leaving unclear how they are coordinated in time to support behavior. To address this, we developed a visual search task to simultaneously track selection among internal search goals held in working memory and external search targets in the environment. Capitalizing on sensitive gaze and neural markers, we provide proof-of-principle evidence in humans that internal and external selection processes do not necessarily take turns in a strictly serial manner but can develop concurrently. These concurrent processes are supported by largely nonoverlapping neural activity patterns in the human brain and can be performed effectively even when engaging opposite spatial locations in working memory and perception. Our findings challenge views portraying brain states as being either internally or externally focused and bring insight into how internal and external selection processes work together to yield efficient search behavior.
Source: Science Advances
Authors: Baiwei Liu, Freek van Ede
Institution: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,500
Award: G506207496
OpenAlex ID: W4416012178