AUTHOR=Senoussi Mehdi , Verbeke Pieter , Verguts Tom 

TITLE=Time-Based Binding as a Solution to and a Limitation for Flexible Cognition

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.798061

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.798061

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Why can’t we keep as many items as we want in working memory? It has long been debated whether this resource limitation is a bug (a downside of our fallible biological system) or instead a feature (an optimal response to a computational problem). We propose that the resource limitation is a consequence of a useful feature. Specifically, we propose that flexible cognition requires time-based binding, and time-based binding necessarily limits the number of (bound) memoranda that can be stored simultaneously. Time-based binding is most naturally instantiated <italic>via</italic> neural oscillations, for which there exists ample experimental evidence. We report simulations that illustrate this theory and that relate it to empirical data. We also compare the theory to several other (feature and bug) resource theories.</p>