{
  "id": 7076229,
  "title": "Mentally transformed representations in memory are linked to their originals",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/12/mentally-transformed-representations-in-memory-are-linked-to-their",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-12T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.10.750562v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The study delves into the workings of working memory, a mental workspace responsible for manipulating encoded information. Researchers utilized multivariate EEG-decoding to examine what happens when participants mentally rotate a memorized orientation grating. After rotation, an additional grating was encoded. The researchers then retro-cued participants to determine whether they would be probed with the rotation product or the additional item.\n\nThe findings suggest that the original orientation grating remains represented alongside the transformation product, even though the latter offers little functional value. This implies retention of the original is not merely due to perceptual encoding or deep, persistent storage. Instead, its retention appears to be contingent on the attentional selection of the transformation product.\n\nWhen the original and rotation product were retained together based on the retrocue, the original remained decodable. This indicates that the original does not persist due to deep encoding; rather, its retention depends on the cognitive selection of the transformation product. The researchers did not find evidence that retaining the original was beneficial.\n\nThe study concludes that mental transformation links the transformation product to its source representation, creating a dependent representational structure. This structure may provide behavioral flexibility in dynamic environments.",
  "summary": "Working memory is an active workspace for manipulating encoded information. Neural decoding studies show that following mental transformation, the encoded original remains represented alongside the transformation product despite offering little to no functional merit. To test why, we employed multivariate EEG-decoding while participants mentally rotated a memorized orientation grating, encoded an…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}