Short-Term Memory: the "Storage" Component of Human Brain Responses Predicts Recall

Abstract

An evoked potential component with a poststimulus peak at about 250 milliseconds is related to the storage of information in short-term memory. This storage component was found in an investigation of brain potentials in relation to a number and letter comparison task. In replications of this experiment at three different light intensities spaced 1.0 log unit apart, the component had essentially the same waveform and pattern of scores. The memory storage interpretation was confirmed in a behavioral experiment that probed short-term memory. Recall was predicted by the magnitude of the storage component.

Intelligence and P3 components of the event-related potential elicited during an auditory discrimination task with masking

“…It was anticipated that individuals scoring higher on the RPM, compared to lower scoring individuals, would exhibit shorter RTs, shorter P3a and P3b latencies and higher P3a and P3b amplitudes. These predicted differences between mental ability groups are consistent with the notion that high ability subjects may have greater ease or efficacy in making tonal frequency discrimination and this should be reflected to both the initial analysis (indexed by P3a amplitude) and subsequent processing (indexed by P3b amplitude) of the target stimulus (Bazana & Stelmack, 2002;Chapman, McCrary, & Chapman, 1978;Houlihan et al, 1998;McGarry-Roberts et al, 1992).…”

Event related potentials to digit learning: Tracking neurophysiologic changes accompanying recall performance

“…Several studies have also related the P200 amplitude to memory processing (Chapman et al, 1978;Rushby et al, 2002;Smith, 1993;Voss and Paller, 2009). However, such a relationship appeared not to be present in our study, as reflected in the absence of a significant sequence type × repetition interaction effect for this component.…”

Do the waves begin to waver? ERP studies of language processing in the elderly

“…However, localizing one of possibly several neural generators to a region whose function is unknown is not particularly revealing about the functional significance of the P2 or the fact it is so drastically reduced in the elderly. One of the few studies addressing cognitive effects on the P2 was performed by Chapman, McCrary, and Chapman (1978;also 1981), who reported that the amplitude of a P2-like component with a peak latency of 250 msec was related to the successful storage of a stimulus into short term memory in a memory probe task. Such a result would be consistent with a hypothesis of reduced efficiency of working memory in the elderly, but further work is needed to determine whether this was a P2 effect or perhaps an early member of the P3 family (Verleger, 1988;Donchin & Coles, 1988).…”