Attention and successful episodic encoding: an event-related potential study

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to delineate the cerebral processes occurring when information is encoded into episodic memory and to determine how these processes are affected by divided attention. ERPs were recorded during encoding under focused or divided attention, and were selectively averaged on the basis of their retrieval during later free recall and recognition tests (with remember-know judgments). Items retrieved with conscious recollection of the encoding episode (remembered, recalled) were distinguished at encoding from later missed items by an enhanced left fronto-temporal negative wave (N340), a negative posterior sustained potential and a positive frontal sustained potential. These effects occurred independently of the level of attention. Items later retrieved on the basis of familiarity (known) elicited a larger N340 than missed items, but did not demonstrate the increased sustained potentials. We suggest that item-specific conceptual processing (N340) is sufficient to produce familiarity-based recognition, but additional elaborative processing (sustained interaction of frontal and posterior regions) is necessary for conscious recollection. The effect of divided attention on these processes was related to the difficulty of the secondary task, with the more difficult task causing greater and earlier interference.