Attention in working memory: attention is needed but it yearns to be free.

Recent theoretical development of working memory has emphasized the role of attention in several active processes supporting maintenance. Although this development is certainly welcome and has accounted for a number of phenomena, there are findings that cannot be readily accounted for through the active use of attention in refreshing or removal of information. We review these findings and suggest that, whenever the circumstances allow, participants attempt to reduce the load on attention by making use of stored concepts in long-term memory (LTM) or off-loading new configurations, forming new long-term memories. Newly formed groups and configurations in LTM constitute a list- or array-wide version of the consolidation of information into memory to prevent forgetting in a manner that reduces the need for continued attention to the material. This suggestion leads to a number of interesting questions at the behavioral and neural levels, which we also discuss.