Debating the foundational nature of serial-context markers in verbal working memory: A commentary on Attout et al. (2026).

Targeting the debate about the foundational nature of serial-context markers in verbal working memory, Attout et al. (2026a) recently concluded that temporal codes dominate spatial codes for serial order across a fronto-parietal network. Based on methodological and empirical arguments, in the current commentary we argue that this conclusion is not warranted from their findings. Overall, our aim is to caution against overstating the relevance of their findings to the debate at stake, and to inspire further theoretical and empirical work building on their study.