Are Rare Stimuli that Produce a P3b Component Preferentially Encoded in Working Memory?
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Presented preliminary findings suggesting that rare, task-relevant stimuli — typically evoking a P3b component — are preferentially encoded in working memory. This talk highlighted behavioral and electrophysiological evidence showing that oddball stimuli elicit stronger working memory representations compared to frequent stimuli.
The results pointed toward a privileged status for rare events in memory encoding, possibly due to attentional prioritization or reduced proactive interference. This work later led to a peer-reviewed publication in Psychophysiology (2025).