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    "story_id": "mp-2026-07-27-007",
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    "headline": "Working Memory Rebuilt the Route Around a Distraction",
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    "dek": "A Snake-game experiment found that people reprioritized the nearest remembered target after an interruption, but only one item remained strongly active.",
    "summary": "A Snake-game experiment found that people reprioritized the nearest remembered target after an interruption, but only one item remained strongly active.",
    "body_text": "Fifty adults played a modified Snake game while remembering one, two or four hidden apple locations. When a surprise grape forced a detour, participants shifted priority toward the apple nearest their new position, showing that working memory can rapidly reallocate resources after a plan changes. At higher loads, that flexibility weakened, and post-distraction reliance narrowed to one item regardless of how many locations were stored. The study describes a constrained laboratory task, not every form of real-world distraction.",
    "why_it_matters": "A Snake-game experiment found that people reprioritized the nearest remembered target after an interruption, but only one item remained strongly active.",
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      "The study describes a constrained laboratory task, not every form of real-world distraction."
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        "text": "A Snake-game experiment found that people reprioritized the nearest remembered target after an interruption, but only one item remained strongly active.",
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        "qualification": "The study describes a constrained laboratory task, not every form of real-world distraction."
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    "tags": [
      "working memory",
      "distraction",
      "planning",
      "cognition"
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      "title": "University of Texas at Austin via Medical Xpress: Working memory after distraction",
      "publisher": "University of Texas at Austin via Medical Xpress",
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    "title": "Working Memory Rebuilt the Route Around a Distraction",
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