Event cache: An independent component in working memory.

Abstract

Working memory (WM) has been a major focus of cognitive science and neuroscience for the past 50 years. While most WM research has centered on the mechanisms of objects, there has been a lack of investigation into the cognitive and neural mechanisms of events, which are the building blocks of our experience. Using confirmatory factor analysis, psychophysical experiments, and resting-state and task functional magnetic resonance imaging methods, our study demonstrated that events have an independent storage space within WM, named as event cache, with distinct neural correlates compared to object storage in WM. We found the cerebellar network to be the most essential network for event cache, with the left cerebellum Crus I being particularly involved in encoding and maintaining events. Our findings shed critical light on the neuropsychological mechanism of WM by revealing event cache as an independent component of WM and encourage the reconsideration of theoretical models for WM.