Hitting the reset button: An ERP investigation of memory for temporal context

• The FN400 was sensitive to the temporal context in which items had appeared.
• An early frontopolar negativity occurred when pictures were seen for the first time.
• The LPC was most negative for studied items that required a “new” response.
• The P3b to the reset screen at the start of blocks predicted later performance.

This study explored how temporal context influences recognition. In an ERP experiment, subjects were asked to judge whether pictures, presented one at a time, had been seen since the previous appearance of a special reset screen. The reset screen separated sequences of successively presented stimuli and signaled a change in temporal context. A “new-repeat” picture was one that had been seen before but was to be called “new” because it had not appeared since the previous reset screen. New-repeat pictures elicited a more negative FN400 component than did “old” pictures even though both had seen before during the experiment. This suggests that familiarity, as indexed by the FN400, is sensitive to temporal context. An earlier frontopolar old/new effect distinguished pictures that were seen for the first time in the experiment from all other pictures. The late positive component (LPC), which is typically greater for old stimuli, was smaller for new-repeat pictures than for pictures seen for the first time in the experiment. Finally, individual differences in task performance were predicted by the differences in amplitude of P3b that was evoked by the onset of the reset screen.