ERP correlates of true and false recognition after different retention delays: stimulus- and response-related...

Performance and electrophysiological correlates of true and false recognition were examined after short (40 s) and long (80 s) delays. True recognition showed no significant decrease after a long delay, whereas false recognition increased. Early frontal and parietal ERP old/new effects, considered as correlates of familiarity and recollection, were observed across delay for true recognition. No frontal effect occurred in the long delay for false recognition. This absence may arise from weakened memory traces preventing familiarity discrimination for LUREs. Response-related analysis revealed an error-related negativity (ERN) for true and false recognition, assuming that the effect reflects at least partly an internal misrepresentation of the correct response. The larger and topographically different ERNs for false recognition suggest an additional contribution of increased task demands and conditions of high response uncertainty.