Event-related potential (ERP) evidence that encoding focus alters recollected features

Abstract

Event-related potential (ERP) evidence suggests that encoding focus alters the quality of information bound in memory, which can affect source memory. In the present study, participants studied product images with blue or and yellow filters while focusing either on the self (self-focus) or on the color of the filtered image (other-focus). Self-focus encoding produced more positive encoding ERPs, greater recognition for old/new judgments, and a greater Late Positive Component (LPC; the putative neural correlate for recollection). Other-focus encoding led to a greater FN400 component suggesting that features (i.e., filter color and product image) were unitized and increased the familiarity used to make memory judgments. The results indicate that encoding focus can alter the balance of features bound in memory. Some features support a specific memory query (diagnostic recollection), whereas other features are from the past do not necessarily inform the memory query (non-diagnostic recollection). Thus, recollection is a complex process that depends on interactions between encoding processes, characteristics of the encountered information, and the broad context of the memory probe.