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

ERPs and their brain sources in perceptual and conceptual prospective memory tasks: Commonalities and differences between the two tasks

“…Description of ERPs associated with cue detection in conceptual PM tasks has not been consistent in the literature. Cousens et al (2015) did not observe any modulation associated with detection of conceptual PM-cues; similar results were reported by Wang et al (2013). In contrast, West (2011) referred to a study in an unpublished thesis, which found evidence of left-frontal negativity around 400 ms that appeared to be supporting conceptual cue detection.…”

“…These findings have been replicated for perceptual PM paradigms only (Cousens et al, 2015; Knight et al, 2010; West, 2011). In the comparison of perceptual versus conceptual PM tasks, Cousens et al (2015) observed that only the perceptual task condition elicited the N300, concluding that this modulation may correspond to a specific rather than a general marker of perceptual cue detection. Description of ERPs associated with cue detection in conceptual PM tasks has not been consistent in the literature.…”

“…It has been found that focal PM tasks are easier to perform than non-focal tasks (Einstein et al, 2005; Hicks et al, 2005). Accordingly, Cousens et al (2015) obtained greater accuracy for conceptual PM tasks (focal) compared to perceptual tasks (non-focal) embedded in a conceptual ongoing task. Although their experimental paradigm was similar to the one used in our study, our results show the opposite.…”

“…Unlike the N300 associated with perceptual cue detection only, the appearance of a prospective positivity has been observed in both perceptual and conceptual PM tasks (Bisiacchi et al, 2009; Cousens et al, 2015; West et al, 2006; West and Wymbs, 2004; Wilson et al, 2013). Cousens et al (2015) showed that the prospective positivity elicited by perceptual and conceptual cues did not differ in amplitude, supporting the idea that the prospective positivity may reflect general mechanisms associated with retrieval of intentions from memory and post-retrieval processes. However, it is well known that similar appearing scalp ERPs may be produced by a mix of different components (Luck, 2005).…”

“…This leads to the question of whether the ERP modulations previously described in the PM literature correspond to specific modulations related to processing of perceptually relevant targets or whether these modulations are “neural markers” common to different forms of event-based PM. As far as we know, only Cousens et al (2015) have presented a study that addressed this question by directly comparing perceptual versus conceptual PM paradigms, their results showing that ERP modulations associated with detection of PM cues were only evident in perceptual PM tasks, whereas ERPs associated with realisation of delayed intentions constitute a general marker of PM. In the present study, we extend these findings by examining ERPs and their neural generators, not only related to cue detection and realisation of delayed intentions, but also during monitoring for PM cues.…”