The N3 is sensitive to odd-even congruency information in arithmetic fact retrieval.
This study investigated the behavioral and electrophysiological effects elicited by adults' simple addition verification when false answers agree or disagree with the odd-even status of the correct sum (parity congruency vs. parity incongruency), while they are near or far from correct (small vs. large splits). Event-related brain potentials were recorded from 18 students using a first-answer-then-problem paradigm. The results showed that odd-even congruency had a significant effect on the N3 latency with a small, but not a large split. Specifically, odd-even congruent answers with a small split elicited an N3 with a longer latency. Analyses of RT similarly indicated a bigger parity-congruency effect with small-split answers compared with large-split answers. This pattern parallels the corresponding effects on N3 and confirms that the N3 is sensitive to odd-even information in arithmetic fact retrieval and that there are clear links between the event-related brain potential pattern and behavioral effects.
Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, 122 Ninghai Road, Nanjing, 210097, China. hrchenyalin@163.com
Yalin
Y
Chen
Jamie I D
JI
Campbell
Chang
C
Liu
D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*