Event-Related Potentials and Recognition Memory: The Effect of Word Imagery Value

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 11 healthy Ss during a recognition memory task. Ss were auditorily presented with 160 target words and, after about 10 min, they were engaged in a recognition task. Ss were required to determine on each of 320 trials if the word was never before presented or heard previously. 160 stimuli (80 target and 80 non-target) were high imagery words and the remaining 160 stimuli were low imagery words. Results confirm the hypothesis that negative components as N400 could reflect processes occurring during the memory retrieval of item