Neural evidence for a 3-state model of visual short-term memory

► We tested whether visual short-term memory can be partitioned into distinct states. ► Inferior parietal activations correlated with accessing the focus of attention. ► Hippocampal activations correlated with accessing items within capacity-limits. ► Ventrolateral prefrontal activations correlated with accessing supra-capacity items. ► The triple dissociation supports a 3-state model of visual short-term memory.