title: Separating the FN400 and N400 potentials across recognition memory experiments.
abstract: There is a growing debate as to whether frontally distributed FN400 potentials reflect familiarity-based recognition or are functionally identical to centro-parietal N400 reflecting semantic processing. We conducted two experiments in which event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with semantic priming and recognition were recorded, either when priming was embedded within a recognition test (Experiment 1), or when these two phases were separated (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, we observed 300-500 ms differences between primed and unprimed old words as well as differences between old and new primed words, but these two effects did not differ topographically and both showed midline central maxima. In Experiment 2, the N400 for priming was recorded exclusively during encoding and again showed a midline central distribution. The ERP component of recognition was only found for unrelated words (not primed previously during encoding), and also showed a midline central maximum, but, in addition, was present in the left frontal area of the scalp. Conversely, the priming effect was absent in the left frontal cluster. This pattern of results indicate that FN400 and N400 potentials share similar neural generators; but when priming and recognition are not confounded, these potentials do not entirely overlap in terms of topographical distribution and presumably reflect functionally distinct processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland. Electronic address: p.strozak@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stróżak
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80305-0345, United States.
authors.forename: Delora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Abedzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80305-0345, United States.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Curran
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Event-related potentials; FN400; Familiarity; N400; Recognition memory; Semantic priming