title: An electrophysiological investigation of memory encoding, depth of processing, and word frequency in humans.
abstract: Memory encoding can be studied by monitoring brain activity correlated with subsequent remembering. To understand brain potentials associated with encoding, we compared multiple factors known to affect encoding. Depth of processing was manipulated by requiring subjects to detect animal names (deep encoding) or boldface (shallow encoding) in a series of Chinese words. Recognition was more accurate with deep than shallow encoding, and for low- compared to high-frequency words. Potentials were generally more positive for subsequently recognized versus forgotten words; for deep compared to shallow processing; and, for remembered words only, for low- than for high-frequency words. Latency and topographic differences between these potentials suggested that several factors influence the effectiveness of encoding and can be distinguished using these methods, even with Chinese logographic symbols.
authors.affiliation: Learning and Cognitive Laboratory, Capital Normal University, Beijing100037, PR, China. c-guo@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jinhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Silu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Ken A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Paller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics