Filtering is a cognitive mechanism that regulates how information is encoded into working memory. It minimizes the retention of irrelevant information while facilitating the maintenance of task-relevant information. While prior studies have examined the filtering of task-irrelevant distractors, it remains unclear whether information that needs to be briefly processed-but not maintained-can be partially filtered out. To address this, we developed a novel complex-span task involving three conditions: a pre-cue condition, where stimuli are identified as memory items or distractors before they are processed, thus allowing for filtering; a retro-cue condition, where this information is given only after processing, preventing filtering; and a control condition without distractors. Across three experiments, memory performance in the pre-cue condition was comparable to the retro-cue condition but worse than the control condition. In addition, using the memory measurement model (Oberauer & Lewandowsky, 2019), we estimated the memory strength of distractors and found the same strength of distractors retained in working memory in both pre- and retro-cue conditions. These findings suggest that information requiring processing cannot be selectively filtered out during encoding into working memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Li et al. (Thu,) studied this question.