[Effect of preload of working memory on components of evoked potentials during encoding of sequentially presented...

In recent experiments with a pseudo-random sequence of 7 consonants to recall after trial (stimulus onset asynchrony 1000 ms) a reverse relationship between P300 amplitude of the event-related potential (ERP) and letter presentation position was shown (Grune et al., 1996). It was assumed that this relationship reflects competition between encoding and retention processes in this time regime. In order to find evidence for the resource competition hypothesis in working memory a 4 x 4 grid containing 4 digits preceded a sequence of 6 consonants. In the first block subjects were instructed to ignore the grid, in two remaining blocks they were asked to remember the digits or their position in the grid and to recognize them after the letter recall. In the ignore condition the expected effect of P300 decrease with letter position was found, especially at posterior electrode sites. When subjects had to process the preceding digit grid there was no position effect of P300 caused by small P300 amplitudes in the ERPs that were elicited by the first letters of the sequence. This effect was not specific to the modality of the interfering with the letter task information from the digit grid. We conclude that the grid information occupies working memory resources that are not available for the event-related processing of consonants to recall.