[P 300 wave and additive or self-terminated processes in short-term image recognition]

The study of the P 300 wave during the acquisition and the recognition of simple symbolic pictures shows a self-terminated treatment in short-term visual recognition processes. The results of this study plead in favour of a general principle of psychobiological economy and of a decrease of the mental charge. This principle is at variance with one of the postulates of Sternberg's additive processes theory.