Decay spectra of N 2 O following excitation to the N terminal (N t ) → π * , N central (N c ) → π * and O 1s → π * intermediate states are reported. The final states reached after participator decay show resonant enhancement consistent with a local-density-of-states analysis based on the Mulliken population of the valence molecular orbitals. In particular, the X-state is resonantly enhanced mostly after excitation from the N t 1s and the O 1s core levels to the π * , while the B-state is mostly enhanced following the excitation of the N c 1s → π * intermediate state. Below the N t 1s threshold, the lowest lying peak related to spectator decay falls at lower binding energy than the highest lying participator peak. This can be attributed to a particularly strong screening effect exerted by the excited electron in the LUMO.