About

Edward Awh is a Professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Psychology. His research activities focus on understanding the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying working memory, attention, and perceptual processes. He has been the principal investigator on multiple NIH-funded projects, including studies on neural indices of online and offline states in human working memory, perceptual interference resolution related to ADHD, and constraints on high-level selection in cognition. Awh's work extensively explores the neural representations and cognitive processes involved in working memory, attention, and perceptual organization. His contributions include investigating modality-independent storage in working memory, the role of neural oscillations in spatial attention, and the neural signatures associated with working memory load and capacity. His research employs electrophysiological methods such as EEG and neuroimaging to decode and understand the neural basis of cognitive functions, advancing the scientific understanding of how information is maintained, manipulated, and retrieved in the human brain.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Neuroscience
• Artificial Intelligence
• Human–computer interaction

Selected publications

• Past and present goals are represented concurrently during visual search

  PLoS Biology · 2026-05-04

  articleOpen access

  Visual selection is often conceptualized as emerging from goal-, stimulus- and history-driven processes within spatial priority maps. Although extensive work detailed the interplay between goal- and stimulus-driven selection, it is largely unknown how goal- and history-driven processes jointly drive selection. While persistent neural firing likely underlies goal-driven selection, it is generally assumed that activity-silent mechanisms effectuate history-driven selection. Due to these different underlying neural mechanisms, simultaneously tracking goal- and history-driven influences neurally has proven difficult. We here employed EEG decoding techniques to simultaneously track and compare goal- and history-driven influences on search. We first established a history-driven signal: Neural decoding closely tracked the target location from the preceding trial. We further demonstrated simultaneous, distinct neural representations of the current and preceding target locations. Strikingly, even when participants attended an upcoming target location before search could commence, prior target locations were reactivated. Our results show that past experiences are reactivated in an inflexible fashion, and do so even when prior targets are completely task-irrelevant. Together, we demonstrate that goal- and history-driven selection are neurally distinct, and reveal that both influences are represented in parallel.

  PublisherDOI

• Working memory needs pointers

  Trends in Cognitive Sciences · 2025-01-07 · 31 citations

  review1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Item-based parsing of dynamic scenes in a combined attentional tracking and working memory task

  2025-08-12

  preprintOpen access

  Human visual processing is limited – we can only track a few moving objects at a time, and store a few items in visual working memory (WM). A shared mechanism that may underlie these performance limits is how the visual system parses a scene into representational units. In the present study, we explored whether multiple-object tracking (MOT) and WM rely on a common item-based indexing mechanism. We measured the contralateral delay activity (CDA), an event-related slow wave that tracks load in an item-based manner, as subjects completed a combined WM and MOT task, concurrently tracking items and remembering visual information. In Experiment 1, participants tracked one or two moving discs without needing to remember the discs’ colors (track and ignore condition), or while also remembering the discs’ colors (two or four colors in total; track and remember condition). In Experiment 2, participants attended either two static discs or two moving discs, while remembering the discs’ colors (two or four colors). In both experiments, the CDA was largely determined by the tracking task – CDA amplitudes reflected the number of tracked discs and not the number of to-be-remembered colors. However, when the discs were static, the CDA amplitudes did reflect color load. We discuss this set of findings in relation to longstanding theories of visual cognition (FINSTs and object files), and the implications for cognitive models of representation of visual information – that how a scene is parsed into item-based representations is a key mechanism in the operation of WM.

  PublisherDOI

• Selective removal of visual working memory items at test

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-05-22 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Working memory (WM) tasks often require comparing remembered items to test displays, but little is known about how people selectively remove irrelevant information at test. Across three experiments, we used contralateral delay activity (CDA) to track WM load and examine selective removal. In Experiment 1, CDA amplitudes increased with set size even when only one item was probed, suggesting minimal removal based on spatial location. Experiment 2 ruled out spatial grouping by presenting items sequentially in the same location, yet more items were retained for larger set size. In Experiment 3, however, when items belonged to distinct mnemonic categories, CDA amplitudes at test were reduced, consistent with selective removal based on category relevance. Additionally, P3 old-new effects showed that decision speed and strength were influenced by the number of items maintained. Together, these results suggest that people selectively remove WM contents based on categorical relevance, not spatial cues, enabling more efficient memory-based decisions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Contributions from Long-Term Memory Explain Superior Working Memory Performance for Meaningful Objects

  Journal of Vision · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Visual working memory (VWM) capacity has been claimed to be higher for meaningful objects compared to simple visual features, possibly due to their rich and distinctive representations. However, prior demonstrations have made this observation by comparing working memory performance for trial-unique objects and repeated sets of simple stimuli (e.g., a limited set of color categories). Unfortunately, this design includes a confound between meaningfulness and the strength of proactive interference, which is virtually absent for trial-unique object images. Thus, improved behavioral performance with meaningful stimuli could reflect contributions from episodic long-term memory (LTM) that are not accessible with repeated stimuli typically used in standard VWM capacity studies. To test this hypothesis, Experiment 1 measured VWM performance for trial-repeated colors, trial-repeated objects, and trial-unique objects. The results replicated the advantage for trial-unique objects over simple colors, but this advantage was eliminated with trial-repeated objects. Equivalent performance with colors and trial-repeated objects appears to contradict the claim that enhanced distinctiveness enables more meaningful objects to be stored in VWM. Instead, these findings indicate that LTM contributions in the trial-unique condition are eliminated by PI in the trial-repeated condition. To further test this interpretation, Experiment 2 measured contralateral delay activity (CDA), an electrophysiological marker of active VWM storage, for trial-repeated colors and trial-unique meaningful objects. Here again, we replicated the behavioral advantage for trial-unique objects, but CDA amplitudes plateaued at equivalent set sizes for objects and colors. Thus, our findings suggest that an equivalent number of trial-unique objects and colors can be stored in VWM, although testing with trial-unique objects invites contributions from familiarity-based representations in LTM (e.g., Endress & Potter, 2014; JEP:G).

  PublisherDOI

• Sharper Spatially-Tuned Neural Activity in Preparatory Overt than in Covert Attention

  Journal of Vision · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen access

  Attention is shifted with or without an accompanying saccade (overtly or covertly, respectively). The neural signatures of overt and covert attention largely overlap, and have even been deemed identical. However, by definition the neural signatures of overt and covert attention must diverge at some point (i.e. saccade initiation), but it remains unclear when and how they diverge. Here, we capitalized on the high temporal resolution of electroencephalography (EEG) in combination with multivariate decoding to investigate when and how overt and covert attention differ neurally. Neural decoding reliably predicted whether overt or covert attention was shifted well before saccade onset (~700ms). We then used an inverted encoding model to compare spatially-tuned neural responses to the attended location between overt and covert shifts. Strikingly, we observed that overt shifts caused sharper spatially-tuned neural responses compared with covert shifts. But why were these spatially-tuned neural responses sharper: did overt attention employ more of the same attention or does imminent saccade execution recruit an additional spatially-tuned process? To address this, we reconstructed spatially-tuned responses when training on only one of the two conditions. We found overt and covert attention to only partly employ similar spatially-tuned responses, arguing against a ‘more-of-the-same attention’ account. Our results instead demonstrate overt attention to recruit an additional spatially-tuned process. We speculate that this additional spatially-tuned process is related to predictive remapping across saccadic eye movements. Together, we demonstrate the neural signatures of overt and covert attention to diverge rapidly because overt attention employs an additional process which sharpens spatially-tuned neural activity.

  PublisherDOI

• Population-Level Activity Dissociates Preparatory Overt from Covert Attention

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-05-12 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract The neural signatures of preparing overt eye movements and directing covert spatial attention overlap as they recruit the same brain areas. Yet, these neural signatures are dissociable at the single-cell level: Specific cells within visuo-oculomotor areas are exclusively involved in motor preparation or covert attention. Nevertheless, it has been proposed that many cells in visuo-oculomotor areas are involved in both motor preparation and covert attention, and consequently their neural signatures should functionally overlap to a large degree. Here, we directly tested this proposal: we combined human (both sexes) EEG with sensitive decoding techniques to investigate whether the neural signatures of preparatory overt and covert attention are dissociable across large-scale neuronal populations. We found that neural decoding reliably discerned whether overt or covert attention was shifted well before saccade initiation. Further, inverted encoding modeling revealed earlier and sharper spatially-tuned activity in preparatory overt than in covert attention. We then asked whether preparatory overt attention achieved sharper spatially-tuned activity by using ‘more-of-the-same’ covert attention, or by recruiting additional spatially selective neural processing. Cross-decoding results demonstrated that preparatory overt attention recruited at least one additional, frontal process. This additional spatially selective process emerged early and likely reflects motor preparation or predictive remapping. To summarize, we found that the neural signatures of overt and covert attention overlap, yet diverge rapidly, in part because overt attention employs an additional spatially selective neural process. Extending beyond a dissociation on the single-cell level, our findings demonstrate that population-level neural activity dissociates preparatory overt from covert attention. Significance statement The world provides much more visual input than the brain can process simultaneously. Spatial visual attention allows for the selective processing of only the most important parts of this input. Spatial attention shifts either overtly (with an eye movement) or covertly (without an accompanying eye movement). The neural signatures underlying these types of spatial attention have long thought to overlap to a large degree. This strong overlap was thought to only break down at the level of single neurons. In our EEG study, we instead demonstrate that large populations of neurons dissociate overt from covert attention. Our results show that the neural signatures of overt and covert attention differ on a much broader scale than previously thought.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Neural evidence for modality-independent storage in working memory

  Current Biology · 2025-09-04 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Image Memorability Facilitates Visual Working Memory Formation: Electrophysiological Evidence from Contralateral Delay Activity

  Journal of Vision · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen access

  Some images, such as faces and scenes, reliably embed themselves in memory, while others are easily forgotten. This phenomenon is often attributed to image memorability, a stimulus-driven property that predicts consistent memory responses across individuals. While this phenomenon is often studied in long-term memory, recent research suggests that image memorability also influences visual working memory (VWM). However, it remains unclear whether this influence stems from facilitated VWM formation or enhanced maintenance that extends VWM storage capacity. To address this, we recorded scalp EEG from 35 participants performing a change-detection task involving images of faces with varying memorability (high vs. low). While maintaining central fixation, participants briefly viewed two faces (100 ms) on one of the visual fields and, after a short delay, were tested for memory accuracy. Consistent with prior findings, high-memorability faces were associated with better behavioral performance. We further analyzed the contralateral delay activity (CDA), an ERP component associated with VWM formation and maintenance. Our results demonstrated that CDA amplitudes at posterior electrode sites were significantly larger for high-memorability stimuli during the early retention period (300–450 ms post-stimulus). However, this difference diminished during the later retention period (850–1000 ms post-stimulus). These findings suggest that high-memorability stimuli enhance early-stage encoding processes, resulting in more robust memory representations without altering the overall storage capacity of VWM. By identifying the specific processing stage where image memorability impacts VWM, this study highlights its role in facilitating VWM formation rather than maintenance.

  PublisherDOI

• Population-Level Activity Dissociates Preparatory Overt from Covert Attention

  Journal of Neuroscience · 2025-11-21 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  The neural signatures of preparing overt eye movements and directing covert spatial attention overlap as they recruit the same brain areas. Yet, these neural signatures are dissociable at the single cell level: Specific cells within visuo-oculomotor areas are exclusively involved in motor preparation or covert attention. Nevertheless, it has been proposed that many cells in visuo-oculomotor areas are involved in both motor preparation and covert attention, and consequently their neural signatures should functionally overlap to a large degree. Here, we directly tested this proposal: We combined human (both sexes) EEG with sensitive decoding techniques to investigate whether the neural signatures of preparatory overt and covert attention are dissociable across large-scale neuronal populations. We found that neural decoding reliably discerned whether overt or covert attention was shifted well before saccade initiation. Further, inverted encoding modeling revealed earlier and sharper spatially selective activity in preparatory overt than in covert attention. We then asked whether preparatory overt attention achieved sharper spatial selectivity by using "more-of-the-same" covert attention or by recruiting an additional neural process. Cross-decoding results demonstrated that preparatory overt attention recruited at least one additional, frontal process. This additional spatially selective process emerged early and likely reflects motor preparation or predictive remapping. To summarize, we found that the neural signatures of overt and covert attention overlap, yet diverge rapidly, in part because overt attention employs an additional spatially selective neural process. Extending beyond a dissociation on the single-cell level, our findings demonstrate that population-level neural activity dissociates preparatory overt from covert attention.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01MH077105

  NIH · $1.3M · 2013

• NIH Grant R01MH07710501A2

  NIH · $347k · 2012

• Neural indices of online and offline states in human working memory

  NIH · $10.5M · 2009–2025

• NIH Grant R01MH064119

  NIH · $690k · 2006

• NIH Grant R01AG019296

  NIH · $582k · 2007

Frequent coauthors

• Edward K. Vogel

  98 shared

• Joshua J. Foster

  Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience

  44 shared

• David Sutterer

  University of Tennessee at Knoxville

  42 shared

• John T. Serences

  University of California, San Diego

  37 shared

• Kirsten Adam

  Rice University

  36 shared

• Edward K. Vogel

  University of Chicago

  29 shared

• Edward F. Ester

  University of Nevada, Reno

  21 shared

• Nicole Hakim

  20 shared

Labs

• University of Chicago PsychologyPI

Education

• Ph.D., Psychology

  University of Chicago

  2000

• M.A., Psychology

  University of Chicago

  1997

• B.A., Psychology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1993