Saturation of auditory short-term memory causes a plateau in the sustained anterior negativity event-related potential

•We observed behavior of SAN beyond the point of saturation of ASTM.•Its amplitude increased from 2 to 4 items and then levelled off from 4 to 8 items.•The average span in the task was slightly below 3 t.•The amplitude of the SAN predicted individual differences in ASTM capacity.•SAN is an electrophysiological index of brain activity related to ASTM.

The maintenance of information in auditory short-term memory (ASTM) is accompanied by a sustained anterior negativity (SAN) in the event-related potential measured during the retention interval of simple auditory memory tasks. Previous work on ASTM showed that the amplitude of the SAN increased in negativity as the number of maintained items increases. The aim of the current study was to measure the SAN and observe its behavior beyond the point of saturation of auditory short-term memory. We used atonal pure tones in sequences of 2, 4, 6, or 8 t. Our results showed that the amplitude of SAN increased in negativity from 2 to 4 items and then levelled off from 4 to 8 items. Behavioral results suggested that the average span in the task was slightly below 3, which was consistent with the observed plateau in the electrophysiological results. Furthermore, the amplitude of the SAN predicted individual differences in auditory memory capacity. The results support the hypothesis that the SAN is an electrophysiological index of brain activity specifically related to the maintenance of auditory information in ASTM.