Event-related potentials and the study of memory retrieval: A critical review

Memory retrieval has been extensively investigated by a variety of techniques and methodological approaches. The present article reports a critical review on the research investigating this subject by means of event-related potentials (ERP). The main goal is to elucidate the key contributions of this technique regarding episodic memory retrieval, as well as to perform a critical analysis taking into account its major advantages and limitations in the framework of current cognitive neuroscience. Considerations concerning its theoretical contributions and implementation in national universities are also discussed.