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Information in working memory (WM) can guide visual attention towards matched features. While recent work has suggested that cognitive control can act upon WM guidance of visual attention, little is known about how the state of memorized items retaining in WM contribute to its influence over attention. Here, we disentangle the role of inhibition and maintenance on WM-guided attention with a novel delayed match-to-sample dual-task. The results showed that active inhibition facilitated searching by diminishing sensory processing and deterring attentional guidance, indexed by an attenuated P1 amplitude and unaffected N2pc amplitude, respectively. By contrast, active maintenance impaired searching by attentional guidance while sensory processing remained unimpaired, indexed by an enhanced N2pc amplitude and unchanged P1 amplitude, respectively. Furthermore, multivariate pattern analyses could sucessfully decode maintenance and inhibition, suggesting that two states differed in modulating visual attention. We propose that remembered contents may play an anchoring role for attentional guidance, and the state of those contents retaining in WM may directly influence the shifting of attention. The maintenance could guide attention by accessing input information, while the inhibition could deter the shifting of attention by suppressing sensory processing. These findings provide a possible reinterpretation of the influence of WM on attention., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The interaction between dorsal and ventral attention networks (VANs) is mediated by the middle frontal gyrus (MFG), which is functionally connected to both networks. However, the direct role of the MFG in selective and sustained attention remains controversial. In the current study, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to probe the connectivity dynamic changes of MFG-associated regions during different attention modes. The participants underwent visual, selective, and sustained attention tasks to observe TMS-induced network changes. Twenty healthy participants received single-pulse TMS over the left or right MFG during tasks, while synchronous EEG data was acquired. Behavioral results were recorded and time-varying brain network analyses were performed. We found that the MFG is involved in attention processing and that sustained attention was preferentially controlled by the right MFG. Moreover, compared with the right hemisphere, the left hemisphere was associated with selective attention tasks. Visual and selective attention tasks induced MFG-related changes in network nodes were within the left hemisphere; however, sustained attention induced changes in network nodes were in the bilateral posterior MFG. Our findings indicated that the MFG plays a crucial role in regulating attention networks. In particular, TMS-induced MFG alterations influenced key nodes of the time-varying brain network, leading to the reorganization of brain network modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]