An electrophysiological signature for proactive interference resolution in working memory.
We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to study the temporal dynamics of proactive interference in working memory. Participants performed a Sternberg item-recognition task to determine whether a probe was in a target memory set. Familiar negative probes were found to be more difficult to reject than less familiar ones. A fronto-central N2 component peaking around 300 ms post-probe-onset differentiated among target probes, familiar and less familiar non-target probes. The study identifies N2 as the ERP signature for proactive interference resolution. It also indicates that the resolution process occurs in the same time window as target/non-target discrimination and provides the first piece of electrophysiological evidence supporting a recent interference resolution model based on localization data [Jonides, J., Nee, D.E., 2006. Brain mechanisms of proactive interference in working memory. Neuroscience 139, 181-193].
Du
Yingchun
Y
Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
Xiao
Zhuangwei
Z
Song
Yan
Y
Fan
Silu
S
Wu
Renhua
R
Zhang
John X
JX
D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values