No abstract

We describe a new procedure using event related brain potentials to investigate parafoveal word processing during sentence reading. Sentences were presented word-byword at fixation, flanked two degrees bilaterally by letter strings. Flanker strings were pseudowords, except for the third word in each sentence, which was flanked by either two pseudowords, or a pseudoword and a word, one on each side. Flanker words were either semantically congruent or incongruent with the sentence context. P2 (175-375 ms) amplitudes were less positive for contextually incongruent than congruent flanker words but only with flanker words in the right visual field for English, and in the left visual field in Hebrew. Flankered word presentation thus may be a suitable method for the electrophysiological study of parafoveal perception during sentence reading.

Although memory of episodic associations is generally considered to be recollective in nature, it has been suggested that when stimuli are experienced as a unit, familiarity-related processes might contribute to their subsequent associative recognition. Furthermore, intradomain associations are believed to be unitized more readily than interdomain associations. To assess these claims, we tested associative recognition following two types of pair associate learning. In the unimodal task, stimulus pairs were pictures of common objects, whereas in the cross-modal task, stimulus pairs consisted of an object picture and an unrelated environmental sound. At test, participants discriminated intact from recombined pairs while ERPs were recorded. In the unimodal task only, associative recognition was accompanied by a robust frontal deflection reminiscent of a component commonly interpreted as related to familiarity processes. In contrast, ERP correlates of associative recognition observed at more posterior sites, akin to a component that has been related to recollection, were apparent in both tasks. These findings indicate that retrieval of unimodal associations can be supported by familiarity-related processes that are dissociable from recollective processes required for the retrieval of cross-modal associations.

HighlightsWe assessed behavioral reconsolidation interference in episodic memory.Employed within-subjects paradigm measuring direct memory strength.Three experiments found no effects of reminder-potentiated interference.Null effects were substantiated by Bayesian analyses.Highlights boundary conditions for behavioral reconsolidation interference effects.