Separable Neural Bases for Subprocesses of Recognition in Working Memory

Abstract

Working memory supports the recognition of objects in the environment. Memory models have postulated that recognition relies on 2 processes: assessing the degree of similarity between an external stimulus and memory representations and testing the resulting summed-similarity value against a critical level for recognition. Here, we varied the similarity between samples held in working memory and a probe to investigate these 2 processes with magnetoencephalography. Two separable components matched our expectations: First, from 280 ms after probe onset, clearly nonmatching probes differed from both similar nonmatches and matches over left frontal cortex. At 350-400 ms, these signals evolved into a pattern of gradually increasing activation as a function of sample-probe similarity, as expected for a neural representation of summed similarity. Second, a signal potentially reflecting criterion testing was observed at 600-700 ms at right frontotemporal sensors that differentiated between matches and nonmatches without further differences between similar and dissimilar probes. Thus, analysis of the time course of recognition provided strong evidence that similarity summation and criterion testing have separable neural bases. As probably both working and long-term memory recognition draw on these processes, they may be involved in many domains of behavior.