Separating item-related electrophysiological indices of retrieval effort and retrieval orientation

Electrophysiological correlates of retrieval orientation in reality monitoring

“…Thus, the current findings are in line with the observation of Dzulkifli et al (2004). Furthermore, two other ERP studies on retrieval orientation have pointed into a similar direction.…”

“…Based on this position, the activation strength of neural networks subserving retrieval orientation should be negatively correlated with retrieval accuracy. Empirical evidence for this position was provided by the study of Dzulkifli et al (2004) who found ERP correlates of retrieval orientation only in subjects whose performance was poorer in the more difficult task. Finally, there is the position that retrieval orientation and retrieval effort do not interact, based on the findings of Rugg, 2002.…”

“…Although the extracted performance measures differ between the two aforementioned studies (accuracy differences between conditions vs. average accuracy), their findings support different notions: The study of Bridger et al (2009) supports the view that a more effective usage of retrieval cues, as reflected in the ERP correlate of retrieval orientation, leads to better retrieval performance. The study of Dzulkifli et al (2004) is more suggestive for retrieval orientation as a compensatory mechanism that needs to be engaged with increasing task difficulty.…”

“…Two other studies found effects of performance accuracy on ERP correlates of retrieval orientation, albeit in opposite directions: In a study of Dzulkifli et al (2004), participants had to identify items of one study condition by a button press, while items of a second study condition as well as new items did not require a response. The average hit rate differed between the two target designations.…”

Retrieving self-vocalized information: An event-related potential (ERP) study on the effect of retrieval orientation

“…However, a positive association between retrieval accuracy and the magnitude of the retrieval orientation effect is not found in all retrieval orientation studies: some studies reported that within subjects the retrieval orientation effect did not vary with retrieval accuracy Robb & Rugg, 2002). In other studies, the retrieval orientation effect increased across subjects with increasing (and not with deceasing) retrieval difficulty (Dzulkifli, Sharpe, & Wilding, 2004;Rosburg et al, 2011a), suggesting that sometimes retrieval orientation might be adopted to a greater extent when participants experience greater difficulties at retrieval. In light of these divergent findings, we have previously argued that a positive correlation between retrieval accuracy and retrieval orientation might be found in particular when the two kinds of target information are dissimilar and, in consequence, selective activation and inhibition of target representations are possible (Rosburg et al, 2011a).…”