Examining ERP correlates of recognition memory: evidence of accurate source recognition without recollection

What guides the judgment of learning: Memory or heuristics? An event-related potential study

Memory monitoring ability is essential for the effectiveness of learning processes. Judgment of Learning (JOL), a metacognitive judgment, is commonly used to measure this ability. An ongoing debate questions whether JOL is an outcome of an inferential or recollective experience, as suggested by different hypotheses regarding the underlying cognitive mechanisms of this judgment. To address this question through a neuroscientific perspective, we aimed to investigate the temporal dynamic of JOL adopting event-related potential (ERP) methodology. Seventy-two young adults participated in an episodic memory task involving word-pairs as stimuli. Their JOLs were obtained through categorical choices in a delayed condition. Additionally, their memory performance was tested in the recognition phase. ERP components were compared for different JOL levels, as well as for the hit responses in the recognition test according to their JOL levels. The analyses showed that JOL processes are observable within an early time window after stimulus presentation, as evidenced by elicitation of the P100, N100, P200, N200, and P300 components across all JOL levels. However, only the amplitude of the N100 varied among these levels. A negative ERP component with 330-500 ms latency was also evident for all JOL levels in the central and parietal electrodes, which did not differ in amplitude. The analyses of the recognition phase ERPs showed that the hit responses did not exhibit a significant difference in the familiarity-related mid-frontal old/new effect (FN400) amplitude; however, those with high level of JOL elicited recollection-related parietal old-new effect with a smaller amplitude. These findings support both hypotheses suggesting that JOL is influenced by heuristics and the retrievability of information.

Separating the FN400 and N400 event-related potential components in masked word priming

Masked word repetition (priming) increases "old" responses on an episodic recognition test, which has been attributed to more fluent target processing. Such results hinge on comparisons to a control prime that is "fluency-neutral". A common practice is to use unrelated word primes for this purpose when some evidence suggests that they actually decrease target word processing fluency (disfluency). ERP and behavioral measures were collected in three experiments that used non-letter symbols as a fluency-neutral control and match primes to increase processing fluency. Experiment 1 compared unrelated word primes and orthographically dissimilar nonword primes to determine whether these primes cause disfluency. Experiment 2 contrasted orthographically dissimilar and similar nonword primes. Experiment 3 examined semantically related primes to test theoretical predictions derived from Experiments 1 and 2. All three experiments provide evidence that the FN400 and N400 are distinct ERP components because many primes altered only one of the components. Relative to the control condition, match (Exps 1 & 2) and semantic primes selectively affected N400 amplitudes, whereas unrelated word primes and orthographically dissimilar nonword primes selectively affected FN400 amplitudes. The Unexpected Fluency Attribution model (Mecklinger & Bader, 2020) provides a framework for understanding the cognitive processes associated with each ERP component.

A third kind of episodic memory: Context familiarity is distinct from item familiarity and recollection

Episodic memory is accounted for with two processes: 'familiarity' when generally recognizing an item and 'recollection' when retrieving the full contextual details bound with the item. Paradoxically, people sometimes report contextual information as familiar but without recollecting details, which is not easily accounted for by existing theories. We tested a combination of item recognition confidence and source memory, focusing upon 'item-only hits with source unknown' ('item familiarity'), 'low-confidence hits with correct source memory' ('context familiarity'), and 'high-confidence hits with correct source memory' ('recollection'). Results across multiple within-subjects (trial-wise) and between subjects (individual variability) levels indicated these were behaviorally and physiologically distinct. Behaviorally, a crossover interaction was evident in response times, with context familiarity being slower than each condition during item recognition, but faster during source memory. Electrophysiologically, a Condition x Time x Location triple dissociation was evident in event-related potentials (ERPs), which was then independently replicated. Context familiarity exhibited an independent negative central effect from 800-1200 ms, differentiated from positive ERPs for item-familiarity (400 to 600 ms) and recollection (600 to 900 ms). These three conditions thus reflect mutually exclusive, fundamentally different processes of episodic memory. Context familiarity is a third distinct process of episodic memory.

Summary

Memory for past events is widely believed to operate through two different processes: one called 'recollection' when retrieving confident, specific details of a memory, and another called 'familiarity' when only having an unsure but conscious awareness that an item was experienced before. When people successfully retrieve details such as the source or context of a prior event, it has been assumed to reflect recollection. We demonstrate that familiarity of context is functionally distinct from familiarity of items and recollection and offer a new, tri-component model of memory. The three memory responses were differentiated across multiple behavioral and brain wave measures. What has traditionally been thought to be two kinds of memory processes are actually three, becoming evident when using sensitive enough multi-measures. Results are independently replicated across studies from different labs. These data reveal that context familiarity is a third process of human episodic memory.

Evaluation of Event-Related Potentials in Somatic Diseases - Systematic Review

Many somatic illnesses (e.g. hypertension, diabetes, pulmonary and cardiac diseases, hepatitis C, kidney and heart failure, HIV infection, Sjogren's disease) may impact central nervous system functions resulting in emotional, sensory, cognitive or even personality impairments. Event-related potential (ERP) methodology allows for monitoring neurocognitive processes and thus can provide a valuable window into these cognitive processes that are influenced, or brought about, by somatic disorders. The current review aims to present published studies on the relationships between somatic illness and brain function as assessed with ERP methodology, with the goal to discuss where this field of study is right now and suggest future directions.

Classification of Known and Unknown Study Items in a Memory Task Using Single-Trial Event-Related Potentials and Convolutional Neural Networks

This study examines the feasibility of using event-related potentials (ERPs) obtained from electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings as biomarkers for long-term memory item classification. Previous studies have identified old/new effects in memory paradigms associated with explicit long-term memory and familiarity. Recent advancements in convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have enabled the classification of ERP trials under different conditions and the identification of features related to neural processes at the single-trial level. We employed this approach to compare three CNN models with distinct architectures using experimental data. Participants (N = 25) performed an association memory task while recording ERPs that were used for training and validation of the CNN models. The EEGNET-based model achieved the most reliable performance in terms of precision, recall, and specificity compared with the shallow and deep convolutional approaches. The classification accuracy of this model reached 62% for known items and 66% for unknown items. Good overall accuracy requires a trade-off between recall and specificity and depends on the architecture of the model and the dataset size. These results suggest the possibility of integrating ERP and CNN into online learning tools and identifying the underlying processes related to long-term memorization.

Improving memory through choice and deliberation in decision-making: Evidence from ERPs

The goal of decision-making is to select one option and disregard the others. However, deliberation can also create a memory association between the chosen and unchosen options. This study aims to investigate how choice and deliberation affect the memory of postdecision options and the underlying mechanisms. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we examined item recognition (Experiment 1) and associative recognition (Experiment 2) following certain and uncertain decisions. In Experiment 1, items that were chosen in certain decisions were remembered better than unchosen items. There was no difference between chosen and unchosen items in uncertain decisions. Moreover, a late recollection-related LPC (a late positive component) old/new effect was larger for chosen items than unchosen items in certain decisions. The early familiarity-related FN400 and the late recollection-related LPC old/new effects were significant for chosen and unchosen items in uncertain decisions. In Experiment 2, there was no difference in performance on associative memory. A FN400 old/new effect (an index of integration) in certain or uncertain decisions was not observed. Although significant LPC old/new effects were found in both certain and uncertain decisions, no difference was found between them. These results propose that decision-making can enhance item memory performance through two distinct processes: value and elaboration. Elaboration involves focusing on the details within items rather than integrating items into a cohesive whole.

Metacognitive Awareness and the Subjective Experience of Remembering in Aphantasia

Individuals with aphantasia, a nonclinical condition typically characterized by mental imagery deficits, often report reduced episodic memory. However, findings have hitherto rested largely on subjective self-reports, with few studies experimentally investigating both objective and subjective aspects of episodic memory in aphantasia. In this study, we tested both aspects of remembering in aphantasic individuals using a custom 3-D object and spatial memory task that manipulated visuospatial perspective, which is considered to be a key factor determining the subjective experience of remembering. Objective and subjective measures of memory performance were taken for both object and spatial memory features under different perspective conditions. Surprisingly, aphantasic participants were found to be unimpaired on all objective memory measures, including those for object memory features, despite reporting weaker overall mental imagery experience and lower subjective vividness ratings on the memory task. These results add to newly emerging evidence that aphantasia is a heterogenous condition, where some aphantasic individuals may lack metacognitive awareness of mental imagery rather than mental imagery itself. In addition, we found that both participant groups remembered object memory features with greater precision when encoded and retrieved in the first person versus third person, suggesting a first-person perspective might facilitate subjective memory reliving by enhancing the representational quality of scene contents.

The late positive event-related potential component is time locked to the decision in recognition memory tasks

Two event-related potential (ERP) components are commonly observed in recognition memory tasks: the Frontal Negativity (FN400) and the Late Positive Component (LPC). These components are widely interpreted as neural correlates of familiarity and recollection, respectively. However, the interpretation of LPC effects is complicated by inconsistent results regarding the timing of ERP amplitude differences. There are also mixed findings regarding how LPC amplitudes covary with decision confidence. Critically, LPC effects have almost always been measured using fixed time windows relative to memory probe stimulus onset, yet it has not been determined whether LPC effects are time locked to the stimulus or the recognition memory decision. To investigate this, we analysed a large (n = 132) existing dataset recorded during recognition memory tasks with old/new decisions followed by post-decisional confidence ratings. We used ERP deconvolution to disentangle contributions to LPC effects (defined as differences between hits and correct rejections) that were time locked to either the stimulus or the vocal old/new response. We identified a left-lateralised parietal LPC effect that was time locked to the vocal response rather than probe stimulus onset. We also isolated a response-locked, midline parietal ERP correlate of confidence that influenced measures of LPC amplitudes at left parietal electrodes. Our findings demonstrate that, contrary to widespread assumptions, the LPC effect is time locked to the recognition memory decision and is best measured using response-locked ERPs. By extension, differences in response time distributions across conditions of interest may lead to substantial measurement biases when analysing stimulus-locked ERPs. Our findings highlight important confounding factors that further complicate the interpretation of existing stimulus-locked LPC effects as neural correlates of recollection. We recommend that future studies adopt our analytic approach to better isolate LPC effects and their sensitivity to manipulations in recognition memory tasks.

Effects of congruent emotional contexts during encoding on recognition: An ERPs study

Past research showed that emotional contexts can impair recognition memory for the target item. Given that item-context congruity may enhance recognition memory, the present study aims to examine the effect of the congruent emotional encoding contexts on recognition memory. Participants studied congruent word-picture pairs (e.g., the word "cow" - a picture describing a cow) and incongruent word-picture pairs (e.g., the word "cow" - a picture describing a goat) and, subsequently, were asked to report the nature of the picture (emotional or neutral). Behavioral results revealed that emotional contexts impaired source but not item recognition, with congruent word-context mitigating this impairment and enhancing item recognition. Neural results from ERPs and theta oscillations found the recollection process, as shown by the LPC old/new effect and theta oscillations, for both item and source recognition across emotional contexts, irrespective of congruity. Meanwhile, the familiarity process as indexed by the FN400 old/new effect was found only for item recognition in congruent emotional contexts. These findings suggest that the congruent relationship of item-context could mitigate the emotion-induced source memory impairment and enhance item memory, with neural results elucidating the memory processes involved in retrieval of emotional information. Specifically, while emotion-related information generally elicits the recollection-based memory process, only congruent emotional information elicits the familiarity-based process.

Children's and adults' memory for the order of events in a museum: A preliminary study about temporal memory and its development using photo-taking and event-related potentials

Remembering personal past events and their order is important. These capacities are essential to episodic and autobiographical memory theories, are needed in the creation of life stories and vital in forensic settings. As important as memory for events and their order are, relatively little is known about their development and the underlying neural processes that support them. Further, there is a paucity of studies that have examined memory and its development for autobiographical, yet controlled, events. The objective of this study was to examine memory for the temporal order of naturalistic "real world" events by directly comparing 7-11-year-olds and adults using both behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures. Participants photographed events at a local museum and after a delay, we used their photographs to test their memory for the temporal order of pairs of the events. We experimentally manipulated the temporal distance between the event pairs (whether the two events photographed in the pair had a short or long temporal distance between them). A memory asymmetry manipulation was also included such that at retrieval, photographs were either presented in forward direction (photograph on the top configuration was taken before photograph shown on the bottom) or vice versa. Children and adults showed sensitivity to temporal distance between events based on behavior (in some instances accuracy was higher for long compared to short temporal distance) and ERP (differential neural processing for short and long temporal distance conditions). Only adults showed sensitivity to the memory asymmetry manipulation, and only when the events occurred within a short temporal distance. A larger study is needed to confirm the present "proof of concept" study results. There is strong potential of this photo paradigm approach, combining naturalistic events with ERP, in future developmental studies, and would further our understanding of how memory behavior and the neural processes underlying memory operate in the "real world."

Comparing episodic memory outcomes from walking augmented reality and stationary virtual reality encoding experiences

Episodic Memory (EM) is the neurocognitive capacity to consciously recollect personally experienced events in specific spatio-temporal contexts. Although the relevance of spatial and temporal information is widely acknowledged in the EM literature, it remains unclear whether and how EM performance and organisation is modulated by self-motion, and by motor- and visually- salient environmental features (EFs) of the encoding environment. This study examines whether and how EM is modulated by locomotion and the EFs encountered in a controlled lifelike learning route within a large-scale building. Twenty-eight healthy participants took part in a museum-tour encoding task implemented in walking Augmented Reality (AR) and stationary Virtual Reality (VR) conditions. EM performance and organisation were assessed immediately and 48-hours after trials using a Remember/Familiar recognition paradigm. Results showed a significant positive modulation effect of locomotion on distinctive EM aspects. Findings highlighted a significant performance enhancement effect of stairway-adjacent locations compared to dead-end and mid-route stimuli-presentation locations. The results of this study may serve as design criteria to facilitate neurocognitive rehabilitative interventions of EM. The underlying technological framework developed for this study represents a novel and ecologically sound method for evaluating EM processes in lifelike situations, allowing researchers a naturalistic perspective into the complex nature of EM.

Self-monitoring deficits in schizophrenia: A cross-sectional study of the underlying cognitive mechanisms

BACKGROUND

People diagnosed with schizophrenia share underlying cognitive deficits in self-monitoring (i.e., identifying the source of self-generated behaviours). This study aimed to investigate whether self-monitoring deficits in schizophrenia are due to a cognitive response bias towards external perceptions or a reduced discriminability of imagined and performed actions. We hypothesised that self-monitoring deficits in individuals with schizophrenia are primarily driven by bottom-up processes, leading to a compromised ability to discriminate between internally generated behaviours as opposed to a cognitive response bias towards performed actions.

METHODS

We recruited 333 participants, including 192 with schizophrenia and 141 healthy controls. As part of the Action-Memory Task, participants were instructed to either imagine or physically perform 36 different actions, half of which were presented as pictograms and half as text. In the test phase, participants indicated whether they had performed or imagined each action, whether it appeared in text or pictogram, or whether it was a new action. Using Signal Detection Theory, the study primarily analysed group differences in discriminability and response-bias.

RESULTS

Participants with schizophrenia made significantly more self-monitoring errors than healthy controls. This was primarily due to significantly lower sensitivity, but not a response bias. Whereas recognition memory errors were driven by both lower sensitivity and a response bias.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that self-monitoring in schizophrenia was specifically impaired by a compromised discriminability of imagined and performed events and an inability to appropriately compensate by adjusting decision-thresholds. Implications on the role of bottom-up and top-down cognitive mechanisms are discussed.

A meta-analysis of event-related potential correlates of recognition memory

A longstanding question in memory research is whether recognition is supported by more than one mnemonic process. Dual-process models distinguish recollection of episodic detail from familiarity, while single-process models explain recognition in terms of one process that varies in strength. Dual process models have drawn support from findings that recollection and familiarity elicit distinct electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs): a mid-frontal ERP effect that occurs at around 300-500 ms post-stimulus onset and is often larger for familiarity than recollection contrasts, and a parietal ERP effect that occurs at around 500-800 ms and is larger for recollection than familiarity contrasts. We sought to adjudicate between dual- and single-process models by investigating whether the dissociation between these two ERP effects is reliable over studies. We extracted effect sizes from 41 experiments that had used Remember-Know, source memory, and associative memory paradigms (1,000 participants). Meta-analysis revealed a strong interaction between ERP effect and mnemonic process of the form predicted by dual-process models. Although neither ERP effect was significantly process-selective taken alone, a moderator analysis revealed a larger mid-frontal effect for familiarity than recollection contrasts in studies using the Remember-Know paradigm. Mega-analysis of raw data from six studies further showed significant process-selectivity for both mid-frontal and parietal ERPs in the predicted time windows. On balance, the findings favor dual- over single-process theories of recognition memory, but point to a need to promote sharing of raw data.

Separating the role of perceptual and conceptual fluency on masked word priming using event-related potentials

Masked word repetition increases "old" responses on an episodic recognition test (Jacoby & Whitehouse, 1989). This effect is commonly attributed to perceptual fluency; that is, unconscious perception of the prime speeds reading of the target and this fluency leads to elevated familiarity. Two experiments directly tested the claim that perceptual fluency is responsible for word priming effects. Experiment 1 held prime-target meaning constant and altered the physical characteristics of match primes (e.g., "RIGHT" primes "RIGHT") by including both lowercase (e.g, "right") and mixed case primes (e.g., "rIgHt"). If word priming effects are due to perceptual fluency, then lowering the perceptual overlap between the prime and target should decrease or eliminate word priming effects. Instead, all three conditions showed robust priming effects in the behavioral and ERP (i.e., N400) measures. Experiment 2 equated the prime-target perceptual features and lowered the conceptual overlap by using orthographically similar nonwords as primes (e.g., "JIGHT" primes "RIGHT"). Removing prime-target conceptual overlap eliminated behavioral evidence of priming and N400 ERP differences correlated with priming. The evidence suggests that word priming effects on episodic recognition memory are more likely a product of conceptual fluency than perceptual fluency.

An ERP measure of non-conscious memory reveals dissociable implicit processes in human recognition using an open-source automated analytic pipeline

Non-conscious processing of human memory has traditionally been difficult to objectively measure and thus understand. A prior study on a group of hippocampal amnesia (N = 3) patients and healthy controls (N = 6) used a novel procedure for capturing neural correlates of implicit memory using event-related potentials (ERPs): old and new items were equated for varying levels of memory awareness, with ERP differences observed from 400 to 800 ms in bilateral parietal regions that were hippocampal-dependent. The current investigation sought to address the limitations of that study by increasing the sample of healthy subjects (N = 54), applying new controls for construct validity, and developing an improved, open-source tool for automated analysis of the procedure used for equating levels of memory awareness. Results faithfully reproduced prior ERP findings of parietal effects that a series of systematic control analyses validated were not contributed to nor contaminated by explicit memory. Implicit memory effects extended from 600 to 1000 ms, localized to right parietal sites. These ERP effects were found to be behaviorally relevant and specific in predicting implicit memory response times, and were topographically dissociable from other traditional ERP measures of implicit memory (miss vs. correct rejections) that instead occurred in left parietal regions. Results suggest first that equating for reported awareness of memory strength is a valid, powerful new method for revealing neural correlates of non-conscious human memory, and second, behavioral correlations suggest that these implicit effects reflect a pure form of priming, whereas misses represent fluency leading to the subjective experience of familiarity.

EEG-based univariate and multivariate analyses reveal that multiple processes contribute to the production effect in recognition

The production effect (PE) is the finding that reading words aloud rather than silently during study leads to improved memory. We used electroencephalography (EEG) techniques to detect the contributions of recollection, familiarity, and attentional processes to the PE in recognition memory, using Chinese stimuli. During the study phase, participants encoded each list item aloud, silently, or by performing a non-unique aloud (control) task. During the test phase, they made remember/know/new recognition judgments. We recorded EEG data in both phases. The behavioral results replicated the typical pattern with English stimuli: Recognition was better in the aloud condition than in the silent (and control) condition, and this PE was due to enhanced recollection and familiarity. At study, the amplitude of the P3b ERP component was greater in the aloud than in the silent/control conditions, suggesting that reading aloud increases attention or preparatory processing during the intention phase. At test, the recollection-based LPC old/new effect was largest in the aloud condition; however, the familiarity-based FN400 old/new effect was equivalent between the aloud condition and the silent/control conditions. Only the LPC effect correlated with the behavioral effect. Moreover, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that accurate classification of items as 'aloud' versus 'new' mainly occurred in the later period of the recognition response, consistent with the LPC old/new effect. Our findings suggest that the within-subject PE in recognition memory reflects enhanced attention and distinctiveness, rather than increased memory strength. More broadly, our findings suggest that encoding strategies such as production enhance recollection more than familiarity.

Features of event-related potentials during retrieval of episodic memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease

Objective

To provide a rigorous comparison between patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD) and healthy elderly, as well as to assess the value of electroencephalography (EEG) in terms of early diagnosis, we conducted a neutral image recognition memory task involving individuals with positive biomarkers including β amyloid deposition, pathologic tau or neurodegeneration.

Methods

The task involving study and test blocks was designed to evaluate participants' recognition memory. Electroencephalogram was recorded synchronously to elicit event-related potentials in patients with MCI-AD and healthy control subjects. We further analyzed differences between groups or conditions in terms of behavioral performance, time domain, and time-frequency domain.

Results

The MCI-AD cohort showed a slower response time to old/new images and had low accuracy regarding behavioral performance. The amplitude of the late positive complex for the old/new effects was significantly suppressed in the MCI-AD cohort when compared with that in the HC cohort. The amplitude of the late old/new effects was correlated with the Auditory Verbal Learning Test recognition score in all participants. The time-frequency domain analysis revealed that correct recognition of old items elicited a decrease in beta power, mainly limited to the HC cohort. Moreover, the combination of behavioral (processing speed and accuracy) and electrophysiological (average amplitude and relative power of delta band) measures contributes to classifying patients with MCI-AD from healthy elderly people.

Conclusion

Changes of old/new effects, accuracy and response time are sensitive to the impairment of recognition memory in patients with MCI-AD and have moderate value in predicting the incipient stage of AD.

Event-Related Potential (ERP) evidence for fluency and disfluency effects on recognition memory

Masked priming is used in recognition memory studies to alter fluency and create familiarity. Primes are flashed briefly before target words that are considered for a recognition judgment. Matching primes are hypothesized to produce greater familiarity by increasing the perceptual fluency of the target word. Experiment 1 tested this claim by contrasting match primes (i.e., "RIGHT" primes "RIGHT"), semantic primes (e.g., "LEFT" primes "RIGHT"), and orthographically similar (OS) primes (e.g., "SIGHT" primes "RIGHT") while recording event-related potentials (ERPs). Relative to match primes, OS primes elicited fewer "old" responses and more negative ERPs during the interval associated with familiarity (300-500 ms). This result was replicated when control primes consisting of unrelated words (Experiment 2) or symbols (Experiment 3) were inserted into the sequence. The behavioral and ERP evidence suggest that word primes are perceived as a unit and the prime word activation will affect target fluency and recognition judgments. When the prime matches the target, fluency is increased and more familiarity experiences are created. When the primes are words that do not match the target, fluency is decreased (disfluency) and fewer familiarity experiences result. This evidence suggests that the effects of disfluency on recognition should be carefully considered.

Comparing event-related potentials of retrospective and prospective metacognitive judgments during episodic and semantic memory

It is unclear whether metacognitive judgments are made on the basis of domain-generality or domain-specificity. In the current study, we compared both behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) correlates of retrospective (retrospective confidence judgments: RCJs), and prospective (feeling of knowing: FOK) metacognitive judgments during episodic and semantic memory tasks in 82 participants. Behavioral results indicated that FOK judgments reflect a domain-specific process, while RCJ reflect a domain-general process. RCJ and FOK judgments produced similar ERP waveforms within the memory tasks, but with different temporal dynamics; thus supporting the hypothesis that retrospective and prospective metacognitive judgments are distinct processes. Our ERP results also suggest that metacognitive judgments are linked to distributed neural substrates, rather than purely frontal lobe functioning. Furthermore, the role of intra-subject and inter-subject differences in metacognitive judgments across and within the memory tasks are highlighted.

Effect of retrieval reward on episodic recognition with different difficulty: ERP evidence

Previous studies found that the reward effect is stronger in more difficult retrieval tasks of item memory. However, it remains unclear whether the effect of reward is influenced by the memory task difficulty level in the source memory. We investigated the effects and neural mechanisms of the processing depth during encoding and rewards at retrieval on the item and source memory using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants were required to carry out the congruity-judgment (deep processing) and size-judgment (shallow processing) tasks during encoding, and they completed separate object and background tests (half presented with reward) immediately after encoding. The results revealed that congruity-judgment (compare to size-judgment) task had longer response time in encoding phase, and evoked significantly greater reward differences at Prs (the hit rate minus the false alarm rate) in item retrieval, and the reward (relative to no reward) significantly improved recognition accuracy in source retrieval. ERP results also showed that congruity-judgment (compare to size-judgment) task evoked the larger N170, P3a, LPP and a decreased P3b of the stimuli in encoding phase, and elicited the wider distribution of LPC and LPN reward effects (i.e., the average amplitudes under the reward condition were significantly more positive than under the non-reward condition) in item retrieval, and the reward effects at FN400, LPC, and LPN were found only in the congruity-judged items with optimal difficulty in source retrieval. The results suggest that reward at retrieval evoked a greater boost in the congruity-judged stimuli, whether in item or source retrieval, which maybe be related to their optimal retrieval difficulty (Pr is closer to medium 0.50). This meant that the reward is more effective in memory retrieval with optimal difficulty.

Context dissociations of the FN400 and N400 are evidence for recognition based on relative or absolute familiarity

Fluency, the ease of processing, can increase familiarity and the ability to recognize previously encountered information. Mixing or blocking the pre-experimental familiarity of test probes alters the pattern of recognition Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) for picture stimuli (Bruett & Leynes, 2015). The present study tested this idea further by mixing or blocking pre-experimental familiarity of word stimuli. A test with only pre-experimentally familiar words (Experiment 1) elicited the prototypical mid-frontal FN400 old/new ERP difference, which is a correlate of familiarity. However, tests with a mix of pre-experimentally familiar and unfamiliar words (Experiment 2) elicited posterior N400 old/new differences. Based on the Unexpected Fluency Attribution model (Mecklinger & Bader, 2020), this pattern of results suggests that pre-experimental fluency can influence the use of relative (changes from recent exposure) or absolute (baseline levels accrued from experience) familiarity to make a recognition judgment.

Deficient Novelty Detection and Encoding in Early Alzheimer’s Disease: An ERP Study

Patients with early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have difficulty in learning new information and in detecting novel stimuli. The underlying physiological mechanisms are not well known. We investigated the electrophysiological correlates of the early (< 400 ms), automatic phase of novelty detection and encoding in AD. We used high-density EEG Queryin patients with early AD and healthy age-matched controls who performed a continuous recognition task (CRT) involving new stimuli (New), thought to provoke novelty detection and encoding, which were then repeated up to 4 consecutive times to produce over-familiarity with the stimuli. Stimuli then reappeared after 9–15 intervening items (N-back) to be re-encoded. AD patients had substantial difficulty in detecting novel stimuli and recognizing repeated ones. Main evoked potential differences between repeated and new stimuli emerged at 180–260 ms: neural source estimations in controls revealed more extended MTL activation for N-back stimuli and anterior temporal lobe activations for New stimuli compared to highly familiar repetitions. In contrast, AD patients exhibited no activation differences between the three stimulus types. In direct comparison, healthy subjects had significantly stronger MTL activation in response to New and N-back stimuli than AD patients. These results point to abnormally weak early MTL activity as a correlate of deficient novelty detection and encoding in early AD.

Brain electrophysiological responses associated with the retrieval of temporal and spatial contexts in episodic memory

Episodic memory allows us to remember three main elements regarding an event: what (it is), where (it is in space), and when (it appears). The brain's electrical activity signaling the occurrence of these processes has been studied separately, revealing different patterns of ERP components and changes in the EEG theta band amplitude. However, how these patterns signal the retrieval of the temporal and spatial contexts of the same episode is unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ERP components and the EEG theta band in association to the retrieval of the what, where, and when of the same episode through a source memory task. Three types of trials were identified here: total retrieval (what, where, and when), spatial retrieval (what and where), and correct rejections (correctly identified as new items). Attentional components, N200 and P300, and theta band were sensitive to the amount of information retrieved from episodic memory. Total retrieval and spatial trials elicited higher mean amplitude of FN400 and LPC, familiarity and recollection markers, respectively, than correct rejections. Our results suggest that early attention mechanisms can discern the strength of retrieval; in turn, familiarity and recollection mechanisms participate in the retrieval of the main contexts of episodic memory, but not in a cumulative way.

Individual differences in behavioral and electrophysiological signatures of familiarity- and recollection-based recognition memory

Our everyday memories can vary in terms of accuracy and phenomenology. According to one theoretical account, these differences hinge on whether the memories contain information about both an item itself as well as associated details (remember) versus those that are devoid of these associated contextual details (familiar). This distinction has been supported by computational modeling of behavior, studies in patients, and neuroimaging work including differences both in electrophysiological and functional magnetic resonance imaging. At present, however, little evidence has emerged to suggest that neurophysiological measures track individual differences in estimates of recollection and familiarity. Here, we conducted electrophysiological recordings of brain activity during a recognition memory task designed to differentiate between behavioral indices of recollection and familiarity. Non-parametric cluster-based permutation analyses revealed associations between electrophysiological signatures of familiarity and recollection with their respective behavioral estimates. These results support the idea that recollection and familiarity are distinct phenomena and is the first, to our knowledge, to identify distinct electrophysiological signatures that track individual differences in these processes.

Encoding tasks moderated the reward effect on brain activity during memory retrieval

Previous studies have explored the effects of retrieval reward and depth of processing in encoding on recognition, but it remains unclear whether and how reward and depth of processing during encoding influence recognition. We investigated the effect and neural mechanisms of encoding reward and processing depth on recognition using event-related potentials (ERPs) in this study. In the study phase, participants were asked to perform two encoding tasks: congruity-judgment (deep processing) and size-judgment (shallow processing) in reward and no-reward conditions. The test phases included object (item) and background (source) tests. The results of item retrieval showed that the accuracy of rewarded items was higher than that of unrewarded items only in the congruity-judgment task, and the reward effect (the average amplitudes in the reward condition were significantly more positive than those in the no-reward condition) in the 300–500 and 500–700 ms were greater in the congruity-judgment task than in the size-judgment task. The results of source retrieval showed that the accuracy of rewarded items was higher than that of unrewarded items, that the difference in the size-judgment task was significantly larger, and that the reward effect in the 300–500 and 500–700 ms were greater in the size-judgment task than in the congruity-judgment task. In conclusion, the encoding task moderated the reward effect in item and source memory.

An event-related potential study of the testing effect: Electrophysiological evidence for context-dependent processes changing throughout repeated practice

The testing effect refers to a special form of performance improvement following practice. Specifically, repeated retrieval attempts improve long-term memory. In the present study we examined the underlying mechanisms of the testing effect as a function of time by investigating the electrophysiological correlates of repeated retrieval practice. We additionally investigated the ERP waveforms of the repeated practice phase as a function of the accuracy on the final test in a "difference due to memory" (Dm) analysis. We found a parietally distributed, increased positive amplitude between 500-700 ms, and a more positive parietal wave between 700 and 1000 ms in the later relative to the early phases of retrieval practice. We found parietal Dm effects in the same two time windows in the retrieval practice condition with a more positive amplitude predicting retrieval success on the final test. We interpret the earlier waveform as a component associated with episodic recollection and the later ERP as a component related to post-retrieval evaluation processes. Our results demonstrate the important role of these retrieval-related processes in the facilitating effect of retrieval practice on later retrieval, and show that the involvement of these processes changes throughout practice.

Brain activity patterns underlying memory confidence

The primary aim of this review is to examine the brain activity patterns that are related to subjectively perceived memory confidence. We focus on the main brain regions involved in episodic memory: the medial temporal lobe (MTL), prefrontal cortex (PFC), and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and relate activity in their subregions to memory confidence. How this brain activity in both the encoding and retrieval phase is related to (subsequent) memory confidence ratings will be discussed. Specifically, encoding related activity in MTL regions and ventrolateral PFC mainly shows a positive linear increase with subsequent memory confidence, while dorsolateral and ventromedial PFC activity show mixed patterns. In addition, encoding-related PPC activity seems to only have indirect effects on memory confidence ratings. Activity during retrieval in both the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex increases with memory confidence, especially during high-confident recognition. Retrieval-related activity in the PFC and PPC show mixed relationships with memory confidence, likely related to post-retrieval monitoring and attentional processes, respectively. In this review, these MTL, PFC, and PPC activity patterns are examined in detail and related to their functional roles in memory processes. This insight into brain activity that underlies memory confidence is important for our understanding of brain-behaviour relations and memory-guided decision making.

The Effects of Reward on Associative Memory Depend on Unitization Depths

Previous studies have found that reward effect is stronger for more difficult to retrieve items, but whether this effect holds true for the associative memory remains unclear too. We investigated the effects and neural mechanisms of the different unitization depths and reward sets on encoding associative memory using event-related potentials (ERPs), which were recorded through a Neuroscan system with a 64-channel electrode cap according to the international 10-20 system, and five electrodes (Fz, FCz, Cz, CPz, and Pz) were selected for analysis. Thirty healthy college students took part in this study. During encoding, participants were carried out two encoding tasks, a congruity-judgment task with high unitization and a color-judgment task with low unitization, with half of the items rewarded. The test phase was conducted immediately after the encoding phase. The results for false alarm rates and Prs (i.e., hit rates for old pairs minus false alarm rates for new pairs) in relational retrieval revealed that the reward differences in the color-judgment task were greater than those in the congruity-judgment task. The ERP results further showed significant reward effects (i.e., the reward significantly improved the average amplitudes compared to no reward) at P300 (300-500 ms) and LPP (500-800 ms) in the color-judgment task both for intact and rearranged items, and the reward effects at LPP (electrodes Fz, FCz, Cz, CPz, and Pz) were distributed more widely than the reward effects at P300 (electrodes Fz and FCz) in the color-judgment task. These results suggest that reward provided a greater boost when retrieving associative memory of low unitized items.

Bayesian modeling of item heterogeneity in dichotomous recognition memory data and prospects for computerized adaptive testing

Most current models of recognition memory fail to separately model item and person heterogeneity which makes it difficult to assess ability at the latent construct level and prevents the administration of adaptive tests. Here we propose to employ a General Condorcet Model for Recognition (GCMR) in order to estimate ability, response bias and item difficulty in dichotomous recognition memory tasks. Using a Bayesian modeling framework and MCMC inference, we perform 3 separate validation studies comparing GCMR to the Rasch model from IRT and the 2-High-Threshold (2HT) recognition model. First, two simulations demonstrate that recovery of GCMR ability estimates with varying sparsity and test difficulty is more robust and that estimates improve from the two other models under common test scenarios. Then, using a real dataset, face validity is confirmed by replicating previous findings of general and domain-specific age effects (Güsten et al. in Cortex 137:138-148, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.12.017 , 2021). Using cross-validation we show better out-of-sample prediction for the GCMR as compared to Rasch and 2HT model. In addition, we present a hierarchical extension of the model that is able to estimate age- and domain-specific effects directly, without recurring to a two-stage procedure. Finally, an adaptive test using the GCMR is simulated, showing that the test length necessary to obtain reliable ability estimates can be significantly reduced compared to a non-adaptive procedure. The GCMR allows to model trial-by-trial performance and to increase the efficiency and reliability of recognition memory assessments.

Effect of the congruity of emotional contexts at encoding on source memory: Evidence from ERPs

Emotion's influence on source memory has proven more elusive and the lack of studies investigates the effect of the congruent emotional contexts on source memory. Here, we investigated these issues using event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess emotional-induced neural correlates. During encoding, congruent word-picture (a word 'shoes' - a picture described shoes) and incongruent word-picture (a word 'pepper' - a picture described shoes) with a prompt (Common? or Natural?) were presented. At retrieval, participants indicated which prompts were concomitantly presented with the word during encoding. Behavioral results revealed that source memory accuracy was enhanced in the neutral contexts compared to the negative contexts, and enhanced in the incongruent condition relative to the congruent condition, suggesting that emotional contexts impaired source memory performance, and incongruent information enhanced source memory. ERPs results showed that early P2 old/new effect (150-250 ms) and FN400 old/new effect (300-450 ms) were observed for words with correct source that had been encoded in the congruent emotional contexts, and that a larger parietal old/new effect, between 500 and 700 ms, was observed for words with correct source that had been encoded in the incongruent condition than in the congruent condition, irrespective the nature of context. The ERPs results indicate that retrieval of source details for the associated emotionally congruent information supports the idea that emotional events could attract more attentional resources, and reflects the contribution of familiarity-based process. Meanwhile, retrieval of source details for the associated incongruent information reflects a stronger contribution of recollection-based process.

Rapid Sequential Implication of the Human Medial Temporal Lobe in Memory Encoding and Recognition

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is crucial for memory encoding and recognition. The time course of these processes is unknown. The present study juxtaposed encoding and recognition in a single paradigm. Twenty healthy subjects performed a continuous recognition task as brain activity was monitored with a high-density electroencephalography. The task presented New pictures thought to evoke encoding. The stimuli were then repeated up to 4 consecutive times to produce over-familiarity. These repeated stimuli served as "baseline" for comparison with the other stimuli. Stimuli later reappeared after 9-15 intervening items, presumably associated with new encoding and recognition. Encoding-related differences in evoked response potential amplitudes and in spatiotemporal analysis were observed at 145-300 ms, whereby source estimation indicated MTL and orbitofrontal activity from 145 to 205 ms. Recognition-related activity evoked by late repetitions occurred at 405-470 ms, implicating the MTL and neocortical structures. These findings indicate that encoding of information is initiated before it is recognized. The result helps to explain modifications of memories over time, including false memories, confabulation, and consolidation.

The effect of test query on recognition event-related potentials (ERPs)

The influence of question framing (i.e., [was the item] "old?" or "new?") on recognition memory and event-related potentials (ERPs) was investigated. Words were encoded using a shallow task to create a weak memory trace that was more susceptible to test question framing effects. Participants made yes/no judgments on two, counterbalanced tests. One test focused on old items ("old?"), whereas the other test focused on new items ("new?"). The behavioral evidence suggested that the weak memory traces led to more familiarity-based recognition judgments with a concentrated effect on decision criterion. There were some small ERP changes on the FN400 or LPC consistent with the criterion changes, but the test query did not directly alter these ERP components. Instead, the test query altered a late old/new ERP difference similar to the "right frontal old/new effect" reported in source monitoring ERP studies. When the query was "new?", old items elicited more positive ERPs, whereas there was no old/new difference when the query was "old?". The results suggest that the query framing induces memory biases that occur late in the stream of processing. More generally, the results indicate that decision criterion must be accounted for when interpreting physiological correlates of recognition memory.

Adapting event-related potential research paradigms for children: Considerations from research on the development of recognition memory

Most developmental event-related potential (ERP) research uses experimental paradigms modified from research with adults. One major challenge is identifying how to adapt these paradigms effectively for use with younger individuals. This paper provides guidance for developmental adaptations by considering research on the development of recognition memory. We provide a brief overview of recognition memory tasks and ERP components associated with recognition memory in children and adults. Then, we provide some general recommendations, discuss common differences between ERP studies of recognition memory in adults and children (e.g., the type of stimuli presented, response modalities), and provide suggestions for assessing the effect of task modifications on ERP components of interest. Specifically, we recommend (a) testing both children and adults on the modified paradigm to allow for a continuity of findings across development, (b) comparing children of different ages on the modified paradigm based on expectations regarding when developmental change occurs for the cognitive process of interest, and (c) empirically assessing the effect of methodological differences between paradigms. To illustrate the latter, we analyzed data from our lab comparing memory-related ERP components when children experienced a 1-day, 2-day, or 1-week delay between encoding and retrieval.

The Cost of the Epistemic Step: Investigating Scalar Implicatures in Full and Partial Information Contexts

We present the first ERP experiments that test the online processing of the scalar implicature some ⇝ not all in contexts where the speaker competence assumption is violated. Participants observe game scenarios with four open cards on the table and two closed cards outside of the table, while listening to statements made by a virtual player. In the full access context, the player makes a fully informed statement by referring only to the open cards, as cards on the table; in the partial access context, she makes a partially informed statement by referring to the whole set of cards, as cards in the game. If all of the open cards contain a given object X (Fullset condition), then some cards on the table contain Xs is inconsistent with the not all reading, whereas it is unknown whether some cards in the game contain X is consistent with this reading. If only a subset of the open cards contains X (Subset condition), then both utterances are known to be consistent with the not all implicature. Differential effects are observed depending on the quantifier reading adopted by the participant: For those participants who adopt the not all reading in the full access context, but not in the partial access context (weak pragmatic reading), a late posterior negativity effect is observed in the partial access context for the Fullset relative to the Subset condition. This effect is argued to reflect inference-driven context retrieval and monitoring processes related to epistemic reasoning involved in evaluating the competence assumption. By contrast, for participants who adopt the logical interpretation of some (some and possibly all), an N400 effect is observed in the partial access context, when comparing the Subset against the Fullset condition, which is argued to result from the competition between the two quantifying expressions some cards on the table and some cards in the game functioning in the experiment as scalar alternatives.

Not Just a Pot: Visual Episodic Memory in Cannabis Users and Polydrug Cannabis Users: ROC and ERP Preliminary Investigation

Background While research has consistently identified an association between long-term cannabis use and memory impairments, few studies have examined this relationship in a polydrug context (i.e., when combining cannabis with other substances). Aims: In this preliminary study, we used event-related potentials to examine the recognition process in a visual episodic memory task in cannabis users (CU) and cannabis polydrug users (PU). We hypothesized that CU and PU will have both-behavioral and psychophysiological-indicators of memory processes affected, compared to matched non-using controls with the PU expressing more severe changes. Methods 29 non-using controls (CG), 24 CU and 27 PU were enrolled into the study. All participants completed a visual learning recognition task while brain electrical activity was recorded. Event-related potentials were calculated for familiar (old) and new images from a signal recorded during a subsequent recognition test. We used receiver operating characteristic curves for behavioral data analysis. Results The groups did not differ in memory performance based on receiver operating characteristic method in accuracy and discriminability indicators nor mean reaction times for old/new images. The frontal old/new effect expected from prior research was observed for all participants, while a parietal old/new effect was not observed. While, the significant differences in the late parietal component (LPC) amplitude was observed between CG and PU but not between CG and CU nor CU and PU. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the mean amplitude of the LPC component as a predictor of memory performance accuracy indicator. LPC amplitude predicts recognition accuracy only in the CG. Conclusion The results showed alterations in recognition memory processing in CU and PU groups compared to CG, which were not manifested on the behavioral level, and were the most prominent in cannabis polydrug users. We interpret it as a manifestation of the cumulative effect of multiple drug usage in the PU group.

Transient Modulation of Working Memory Performance and Event-Related Potentials by Transcranial Static Magnetic Field Stimulation over the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

Transcranial static magnetic field stimulation (tSMS) can modulate human cortical excitability and behavior. To better understand the neuromodulatory effect of tSMS, this study investigates whether tSMS applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) modulates working memory (WM) performance and its associated event-related potentials (ERPs). Thirteen healthy participants received tSMS or sham stimulation over the left DLPFC for 26 min on different days. The participants performed a 2-back version of the n-back task before, during (20 min after the start of stimulation), immediately after, and 15 min after the stimulation. We examine reaction time for correct responses, d-prime reflecting WM performance, and the N2 and P3 components of ERPs. Our results show that there was no effect of tSMS on reaction time. The d-prime was reduced, and the N2 latency was prolonged immediately after tSMS. These findings indicate that tSMS over the left DLPFC affects WM performance and its associated electrophysiological signals, which can be considered an important step toward a greater understanding of tSMS and its use in studies of higher-order cognitive processes.

Interactions of Emotion and Self-reference in Source Memory: An ERP Study

The way emotional information is encoded (e.g., deciding whether it is self-related or not) has been found to affect source memory. However, few studies have addressed how the emotional quality and self-referential properties of a stimulus interactively modulate brain responses during stimulus encoding and source memory recognition. In the current study, 22 participants completed five study-test cycles with negative, neutral, and positive words encoded in self-referential versus non-self-referential conditions, while event-related potentials of the electroencephalogram were recorded. An advantage of self-referential processing in source memory performance, reflected in increased recognition accuracy, was shown for neutral and positive words. At the electrophysiological level, self-referential words elicited increased amplitudes in later processing stages during encoding (700-1,200 ms) and were associated with the emergence of old/new effects in the 300-500 ms latency window linked to familiarity effects. In the 500-800 ms latency window, old/new effects emerged for all valence conditions except for negative words studied in the non-self-referential condition. Negative self-referential words also elicited a greater mobilization of post-retrieval monitoring processes, reflected in an enhanced mean amplitude in the 800-1,200 ms latency window. Together, the current findings suggest that valence and self-reference interactively modulate source memory. Specifically, negative self-related information is more likely to interfere with the recollection of source memory features.

Recallable but not recognizable: The influence of semantic priming in recall paradigms

When people can successfully recall a studied word, they should be able to recognize it as having been studied. In cued-recall paradigms, however, participants sometimes correctly recall words in the presence of strong semantic cues but then fail to recognize those words as actually having been studied. Although the conditions necessary to produce this unusual effect are known, the underlying neural correlates have not been investigated. Across five experiments, involving both behavioral and electrophysiological methods (EEG), we investigated the cognitive and neural processes that underlie recognition failures. Experiments 1 and 2 showed behaviorally that assuming that recalled items can be recognized in cued-recall paradigms is a flawed assumption, because recognition failures occur in the presence of cues, regardless of whether those failures are measured. With event-related potentials (ERPs), Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that successfully recalled words that are recognized are driven by recollection at recall and then by a combination of recollection and familiarity at ensuing recognition. In contrast, recognition failures did not show that memory signature and may instead be driven by semantic priming at recall and followed at recognition stages by negative-going ERP effects consistent with implicit processes, such as repetition fluency. These results demonstrate that recall - long-characterized as predominantly reflecting recollection-based processing in episodic memory - may at times also be served by a confluence of implicit cognitive processes.

Distinct patterns of repetition suppression in Fragile X syndrome, down syndrome, tuberous sclerosis complex and mutations in SYNGAP1

Sensory processing is the gateway to information processing and more complex processes such as learning. Alterations in sensory processing is a common phenotype of many genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability (ID). It is currently unknown whether sensory processing alterations converge or diverge on brain responses between syndromes. Here, we compare for the first time four genetic conditions with ID using the same basic sensory learning paradigm. One hundred and five participants, aged between 3 and 30 years old, composing four clinical ID groups and one control group, were recruited: Fragile X syndrome (FXS; n = 14), tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC; n = 9), Down syndrome (DS; n = 19), SYNGAP1 mutations (n = 8) and Neurotypical controls (NT; n = 55)). All groups included female and male participants. Brain responses were recorded using electroencephalography (EEG) during an audio-visual task that involved three repetitions of the pronunciation of the phoneme /a/. Event Related Potentials (ERP) were used to: 1) compare peak-to-peak amplitudes between groups, 2) evaluate the presence of repetition suppression within each group and 3) compare the relative repetition suppression between groups. Our results revealed larger overall amplitudes in FXS. A repetition suppression (RS) pattern was found in the NT group, FXS and DS, suggesting spared repetition suppression in a multimodal task in these two ID syndromes. Interestingly, FXS presented a stronger RS on one peak-to-peak value in comparison with the NT. The results of our study reveal the distinctiveness of ERP and RS brain responses in ID syndromes. Further studies should be conducted to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in these patterns of responses.

Neural correlates of the Dunning-Kruger effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect (DKE) is a metacognitive phenomenon of illusory superiority in which individuals who perform poorly on a task believe they performed better than others, yet individuals who performed very well believe they under-performed compared to others. This phenomenon has yet to be directly explored in episodic memory, nor explored for physiological correlates or reaction times. We designed a novel method to elicit the DKE via a test of item recognition while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. Throughout the task, participants were asked to estimate the percentile in which they performed compared to others. Results revealed participants in the bottom 25th percentile over-estimated their percentile, while participants in the top 75th percentile under-estimated their percentile, exhibiting the classic DKE. Reaction time measures revealed a condition-by-group interaction whereby over-estimators responded faster than under-estimators when estimating being in the top percentile and responded slower when estimating being in the bottom percentile. Between-group EEG differences were evident between over-estimators and under-estimators during Dunning-Kruger responses, which revealed FN400-like effects of familiarity supporting differences for over-estimators, whereas "old-new" memory event-related potential effects revealed a late parietal component associated with recollection-based processing for under-estimators that was not evident for over-estimators. Findings suggest over- and under-estimators use differing cognitive processes when assessing their performance, such that under-estimators may rely on recollection during memory while over-estimators may draw upon excess familiarity when over-estimating their performance. Episodic memory thus appears to play a contributory role in metacognitive judgements of illusory superiority.

Unitization of internal and external features contributes to associative recognition for faces: Evidence from modulations of the FN400

Associative recognition requires discriminating between old items and conjunction lures constructed by recombining elements from two different study items. This task can be solved not only by recollection but also by familiarity if the to-be-remembered stimuli are perceived as a unitized representation. In two event-related potential (ERP) studies, we provide evidence for the integration of internal and external facial features by showing that the early frontal old-new effect (considered a correlate of familiarity) is modulated by the specific combination of facial features. Participants studied faces consisting of internal features (eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth) paired with external features (hair, head shape, and ears). During the testing phase, intact, recombined, and new faces were presented. Recombined faces consisted of internal and external features taken from two different studied faces. The results showed that at the frontal sites, during the time window from 300 to 500 ms, ERPs to intact faces were more positive than those to new and recombined faces; the latter two did not differ from one another. The late parietal effect was observed only after a more extended study phase in Experiment 2. We take the modulation of the early frontal old-new effect as evidence for the contribution of familiarity to associative recognition for combinations of internal and external facial features.

Pure-list production improves item recognition and sometimes also improves source memory

Relative to reading silently, reading words aloud (a type of "production") typically enhances item recognition, even when production is manipulated between groups using pure lists. We investigated whether pure-list production also enhances memory for various item details (i.e., source memory). Screen side (Experiment 1), font size (Experiment 2), or reading versus generating from anagrams (Experiments 3-4) were the sources varied within-subject, and aloud versus silent reading was varied across groups. Thus, the manipulation of source was apparent to participants, whereas the manipulation of production was not. Traditional measures and multinomial modeling established that the aloud groups generally showed improved item recognition-and showed improved source memory when steps were taken to enhance the salience of the source manipulation (Experiment 4). In summary, reading an entire list of items improves item recognition and can also improve memory for some types of source details.

Electrocortical indices of subjectively perceived confidence in episodic memory

Electrophysiological studies on recognition memory have identified several brain signals that are associated with subjective perceived confidence. However, the extent these brain signals reflect a generic process and are independent of the type of information recognized remains an open question. To address this issue, twenty-seven healthy volunteers performed an episodic memory task while their electro-encephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Participants encoded a set of abstract pictures, and subsequently rated their confidence on recognition decisions. Similar to results reported in previous studies using concrete words, we found retrieval-related theta power, FN400 and late positive component (LPC) effects. In contrast to previous studies using verbal material, a subsequent memory effect for encoding-related evoked theta power, sensitive to subjectively perceived memory confidence, was observed. Our findings suggest that brain signals that are associated with subjectively perceived confidence reflect specific encoding, but generic retrieval processes.

Comparing electrophysiological correlates of judgment of learning and feeling of knowing during face-name recognition

We investigated the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of two metacognitive judgments, namely judgment of learning (JOL) and feeling of knowing (FOK) induced by a face-name recognition (FNR) task in 60 participants. The FNR produced N170 and P100 components at posterior, and an N100 component at anterior electrodes. Posterior P200, anterior N200 components were recorded during JOL and FOK judgments. Our data showed that ERP correlates of JOL and FOK emerge as rapidly as 200 ms following stimulus presentation, and these two metacognitive judgments are based on both perceptual fluency and conflict processes. However, these ERP components affected by the degree of JOL and FOK judgments. Thus, we concluded that even though JOL and FOK judgments produced similar ERP wave forms temporal dynamics of these two judgments are different. Also, our results support the hypothesis that metacognitive judgments are linked to distributed neural substrates rather than strictly to frontal lobe function.

Category learning can alter perception and its neural correlates

Learned Categorical Perception (CP) occurs when the members of different categories come to look more dissimilar ("between-category separation") and/or members of the same category come to look more similar ("within-category compression") after a new category has been learned. To measure learned CP and its physiological correlates we compared dissimilarity judgments and Event Related Potentials (ERPs) before and after learning to sort multi-featured visual textures into two categories by trial and error with corrective feedback. With the same number of training trials and feedback, about half the subjects succeeded in learning the categories ("Learners": criterion 80% accuracy) and the rest did not ("Non-Learners"). At both lower and higher levels of difficulty, successful Learners showed significant between-category separation-and, to a lesser extent, within-category compression-in pairwise dissimilarity judgments after learning, compared to before; their late parietal ERP positivity (LPC, usually interpreted as decisional) also increased and their occipital N1 amplitude (usually interpreted as perceptual) decreased. LPC amplitude increased with response accuracy and N1 amplitude decreased with between-category separation for the Learners. Non-Learners showed no significant changes in dissimilarity judgments, LPC or N1, within or between categories. This is behavioral and physiological evidence that category learning can alter perception. We sketch a neural net model predictive of this effect.

Neural correlates underlying the effect of reward value on recognition memory

The prioritized encoding and retrieval of valuable information is an essential aspect of human memory. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to determine which of two hypothesized processes underlies the influence of reward value on episodic memory. One hypothesis is that value engages prefrontal executive control processes, so that valuable stimuli engage an elaborative rehearsal strategy that benefits memory. A second hypothesis is that value acts through the reward-related midbrain dopamine system to modulate synaptic plasticity in hippocampal and cortical efferents, thereby benefiting memory encoding. We used a value-directed recognition memory (VDR) paradigm in which participants encoded words assigned different point values and aimed to maximize the point value of subsequently recognized words. Subjective states of recollection (i.e., “remember”) and familiarity (i.e., “know”) were assessed at retrieval. Words assigned higher values at study were recognized more effectively than words assigned lower values, due to increased “remember” responses but no difference in “know” responses. Greater value was also associated with larger amplitudes of an EEG component at retrieval that indexes recollection (parietal old/new component), but had no relationship with a component that indexes familiarity (FN400 component). During encoding, we assessed a late frontal positivity (frontal slow wave, FSW) that has been related to elaborative rehearsal strategies and an early parietal component (P3) thought to index dopamine driven attention allocation. Our findings indicate that the effect of value on recognition memory is primarily driven by the dopamine-driven reward valuation system (P3) with no discernible effect on rehearsal processes (FSW).