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What is the role of working memory in segmenting continuous experience into events? Does information gradually accumulate in working memory, or is the preceding event reactivated when we encounter a boundary? Check our new paper in JoCN🧵: direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...

Working memory has long been thought to support segmentation, but how it does so remains unclear. Using two EEG indices sensitive to working-memory load (contralateral delay activity (CDA) and alpha-band suppression), we tested two possibilities: accumulation vs. reactivation

If information accumulates in WM, neural markers of WM load should gradually increase across items within an event If information is reactivated at boundaries, WM load should increase when a new event begins — reflecting reinstatement of the preceding event.

The results supported boundary-triggered reactivation: alpha-band suppression increased following events Evidence for accumulation was more limited: CDA gradually increased across items within an event, but alpha-band suppression did not