Effects of cue frequency and repetition on prospective memory: An ERP investigation

Effects of perceptual and semantic cues on ERP modulations associated with prospective memory

“…Consistent with previous experiments that have utilised perceptual features of a physical stimulus to designate a PM cue (West et al, 2000(West et al, , 2006West and Krompinger, 2005), both the prospective positivity and N300 components were strongly elicited for the perceptual group. Consistent with studies that utilised a semantic feature of a physical stimulus to designate a PM cue Wilson et al, 2013), the N300 was substantially attenuated for the semantic group, while the prospective positivity was evident for both groups. Overall, it was observed that the N300 and the prospective positivity component were differentially modulated by the nature of the PM cue.…”

“…Whereas the N300 has been associated with the detection of a prospective cue in the environment, the prospective positivity has been associated with postretrieval processes occurring after the realisation of a delayed intention (West, 2008). Some recent studies have not identified an N300 component Wilson et al, 2013). This warrants investigation of whether different types of cues might or might not be associated with an N300.…”

“…Embedded within the primary task is a secondary PM task in which PM cues may appear as part of the ongoing task, or as part of the background context. Electrophysiological studies of PM have generally identified two distinct ERP components, the N300, and prospective positivity (West, 2011). Whereas the N300 has been associated with the detection of a prospective cue in the environment, the prospective positivity has been associated with postretrieval processes occurring after the realisation of a delayed intention (West, 2008).…”

“…The N300 is a negative deflection in the occipital-parietal region that emerges 300-400 ms after stimulus onset and is associated with the detection of PM cues in the context of an ongoing activity, and the prospective positivity is a positive deflection broadly distributed over central, parietal, and occipital regions of the scalp that emerges between 400 and 1200 ms after stimulus onset and is associated with the retrieval of an intended action from memory (West, 2008). The N300 is also accompanied by a frontal positivity of similar onset but longer duration that distinguishes PM cues from the ongoing task (West, 2011). In a review paper, West et al (2000) described a programme of research supporting the specific involvement of the N300 in initial PM cue detection.…”

“…For each of these studies the PM cue was not defined by its perceptual features, though still adhered to the general experimental PM task paradigm of embedding a PM task within an ongoing task (McNerney, 2006;Wang et al, 2013;Wilson et al, 2013). Each study used PM cues that consisted of animal words, a cue defined by its semantic category rather than its perceptual features.…”