Attention allows us to selectively enhance processing of specific locations or features in our external environment while filtering out irrelevant information. It is currently hypothesized that this is achieved through boosting of relevant sensory signals which biases the competition between neural representations. Recent neurophysiological and behavioral studies revealed that attention is a fundamentally rhythmic process, tightly linked to neural oscillations in frontoparietal networks. Instead of continuously highlighting a single object or location, attention rhythmically alternates between multiple relevant representations at a frequency of 3–8 Hz. However, attention cannot only be directed towards the external world but also towards internal visual working memory (VWM) representations, e.g. when selecting one of several search templates to find corresponding objects in the external world. Two recent studies demonstrate that single-feature objects in VWM are attended in a similar rhythmic fashion as perceived objects. Here we add to the literature by showing that non-spatial retro-cues initiate comparable theta-rhythmic sampling of multi-feature objects in VWM. Our findings add to the converging body of evidence that external and internal visual representations are accessed by similar rhythmic attentional mechanisms and present a potential solution to the binding problem in working memory.

Attention allows us to selectively enhance the processing of specific locations or features in our external environment while simultaneously filtering out momentarily irrelevant information. It is currently hypothesized that this is achieved through the boosting of relevant sensory signals which biases the competition between competing neural representations. Recent neurophysiological and behavioral studies have revealed that attention is a fundamentally rhythmic process, tightly linked to neural oscillations in fronto-parietal networks. Instead of continuously highlighting a single object or location, attention rhythmically alternates between multiple relevant representations at a frequency of 3 – 6 Hz. However attention can not only be directed towards the external world but also towards internal visual working memory (VWM) representations, e.g. when selecting one of several search templates to find corresponding objects in the external world. Two recent studies have revealed that objects in VWM are attended in a similarly rhythmic fashion as perceived objects. We add to the current literature by showing that retro-cues towards multi-feature gratings in VWM initiate a similar theta-rhythmic competition, modulating reaction times in an anti-phasic manner. Our findings add to the converging body of evidence that external and internal visual representations are accessed by highly similar, rhythmic attentional mechanisms.