Executive control can query hidden human memories

When we try to retrieve a representation from visual long-term memory there is a chance that we will fail to recall seeing it even though the memory is stored in our brain. Here we show that although mechanisms of explicit memory retrieval are sometimes unable to retrieve stored memories, that mechanisms of executive control can quickly query memory and determine if a representation is stored therein. Our findings suggest that the representations stored in human memory that cannot be accessed explicitly at that moment are nonetheless directly accessible by the brain’s higher level control mechanisms.