Memory retrieval processing: Neural indices of processes supporting episodic retrieval

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were acquired during separate test phases of a verbal recognition memory exclusion task in order to contribute to current understanding of the functional significance of differences between ERPs elicited by new (unstudied) test words, which are assumed to index processes engaged in pursuit of task-relevant information. Participants were asked to endorse old words from one study task (targets), and to reject new test words as well as those from a second study task (non-targets). The study task designated as the target category varied across test phases. The left-parietal ERP old/new effect – the electrophysiological signature of recollection – was reliable for targets and for non-targets in all test phases, consistent with the view that participants recollected information about both of these classes of test word. The contrast between the ERPs evoked by new test words separated according to target designation revealed no reliable differences. These findings contrast with those in a recent study in which the same tasks were used, but in which the accuracy of task judgments was markedly higher (Dzulkifli, M.A., & Wilding, E. L. (2005). Electrophysiological indices of strategic episodic retrieval processing. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1152–1162). In that study, there were reliable differences between the ERPs evoked by the two classes of new words, but reliable left-parietal ERP old/new effects for targets only. In combination, the findings suggest that differences between ERPs evoked by new test words can reflect processes that are important for controlling what kinds of information will and will not be recollected.