Top-down modulation serves as a common neural mechanism underlying selective attention and working memory (WM). This review highlights recent evidence showing that top-down modulation influences multiple stages of WM processing, including expectation, encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Top-down modulation involves activity modulation in stimulus-selective sensory cortices, with concurrent engagement of prefrontal and parietal control regions that generate top-down signals. These mechanisms are engaged during both stimulus-present and stimulus-absent stages of WM tasks, such as expectation of an upcoming stimulus, selection and encoding of stimuli, maintenance of relevant information, and memory retrieval. Selective attention and WM have traditionally been viewed as distinct cognitive domains, but recent studies show significant overlap between them. Top-down modulation is involved in both processes, with similar neural mechanisms influencing attention to stimuli for immediate perceptual goals and WM performance. Top-down modulation enhances activity in sensory regions for relevant stimuli and suppresses activity for irrelevant ones, affecting neural contrast and processing efficiency. In visual WM tasks, participants are presented with items to be remembered, followed by a probe to test recognition. Multiple stages of processing occur, including expectation, encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. These stages are crucial for WM performance and benefit from selective and focused processing. Selective processing can be enhanced by predictive cues, which improve WM performance by modulating pre-encoding activity. Top-down modulation is also involved in encoding, where attention to relevant vs. irrelevant stimuli differentially modulates sensory cortex activity. Early goal-driven activity modulation in sensory areas is linked to subsequent WM performance. Functional connectivity studies show that prefrontal and parietal areas are involved in controlling attention during WM encoding, with stronger connectivity correlating with better WM performance. During maintenance, top-down modulation continues to prioritize items in visual short-term memory (VSTM) even after encoding. Retro-cues, which provide information about the relevance of maintained items, dynamically modulate visual activity and improve WM performance. Functional connectivity between prefrontal and visual areas increases after effective spatial retro-cues, correlating with WM performance. During retrieval, top-down modulation influences the retrieval process, with ERP markers indicating successful identification of target items in WM. Selecting a target from WM and the environment may be analogous to internally and externally directed selective attention. The review concludes that top-down modulation serves as a common framework for selective attention processes in both perceptual and WM tasks. It influences early perceptual representations and is not specific to WM. Top-down modulation dynamically modulates neuronal excitability during both stimulus-present and stimulus-absent stages, affecting WM performance. The role of top-down modulation in WM encoding and its benefits for WM performance are influenced by attentional modulation of early perceptual representations. The study also highlights the importance of functional connectivity between prefrontal and posterior areas in promoting successful WM maintenance.Top-down modulation serves as a common neural mechanism underlying selective attention and working memory (WM). This review highlights recent evidence showing that top-down modulation influences multiple stages of WM processing, including expectation, encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Top-down modulation involves activity modulation in stimulus-selective sensory cortices, with concurrent engagement of prefrontal and parietal control regions that generate top-down signals. These mechanisms are engaged during both stimulus-present and stimulus-absent stages of WM tasks, such as expectation of an upcoming stimulus, selection and encoding of stimuli, maintenance of relevant information, and memory retrieval. Selective attention and WM have traditionally been viewed as distinct cognitive domains, but recent studies show significant overlap between them. Top-down modulation is involved in both processes, with similar neural mechanisms influencing attention to stimuli for immediate perceptual goals and WM performance. Top-down modulation enhances activity in sensory regions for relevant stimuli and suppresses activity for irrelevant ones, affecting neural contrast and processing efficiency. In visual WM tasks, participants are presented with items to be remembered, followed by a probe to test recognition. Multiple stages of processing occur, including expectation, encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. These stages are crucial for WM performance and benefit from selective and focused processing. Selective processing can be enhanced by predictive cues, which improve WM performance by modulating pre-encoding activity. Top-down modulation is also involved in encoding, where attention to relevant vs. irrelevant stimuli differentially modulates sensory cortex activity. Early goal-driven activity modulation in sensory areas is linked to subsequent WM performance. Functional connectivity studies show that prefrontal and parietal areas are involved in controlling attention during WM encoding, with stronger connectivity correlating with better WM performance. During maintenance, top-down modulation continues to prioritize items in visual short-term memory (VSTM) even after encoding. Retro-cues, which provide information about the relevance of maintained items, dynamically modulate visual activity and improve WM performance. Functional connectivity between prefrontal and visual areas increases after effective spatial retro-cues, correlating with WM performance. During retrieval, top-down modulation influences the retrieval process, with ERP markers indicating successful identification of target items in WM. Selecting a target from WM and the environment may be analogous to internally and externally directed selective attention. The review concludes that top-down modulation serves as a common framework for selective attention processes in both perceptual and WM tasks. It influences early perceptual representations and is not specific to WM. Top-down modulation dynamically modulates neuronal excitability during both stimulus-present and stimulus-absent stages, affecting WM performance. The role of top-down modulation in WM encoding and its benefits for WM performance are influenced by attentional modulation of early perceptual representations. The study also highlights the importance of functional connectivity between prefrontal and posterior areas in promoting successful WM maintenance.