Electrophysiological Response during Source Memory Decisions in Older and Younger Adults

Strategic influences on recollection in the exclusion task: Electrophysiological evidence

“…To anticipate the results, in Experiment 1, we found that ERPs elicited by correctly excluded nontargets failed to elicit a left parietal old/new effect. This finding is at odds with those of Wilding and Rugg (1997) and Cycowicz et al (2001) but is consistent with those of Dywan et al (2002;Dywan et al, 1998;Dywan et al, 2001). As will be elaborated in the Discussion section, we hypothesized that the absence of a nontarget left parietal effect in our first experiment reflected the ease with which the subjects were able to recollect the targets.…”

“…Even when they receive "standard" exclusion instructions that emphasize the utility of retrieving nontarget source information, subjects may make differential use of this information, depending on the accessibility of target information. 3 The question arises as to why excluded nontargets elicited a parietal old/new effect in the studies of Wilding and and Cycowicz et al (2001), but not in the present study or those of Dywan et al (2002;Dywan et al, 1998;Dywan et al, 2001). According to the account given above, the answer lies, at least partially, in the relative saliences of target and nontarget source information.…”

“…By this account, nontarget source information was retrieved in both experiments but was attended to only in Experiment 2 (see Dywan et al, 2002, Dywan et al, 1998, and Dywan et al, 2001, for similar accounts). This possibility is consistent with other findings suggesting that the left parietal effect is sensitive to the task relevance of retrieved information.…”

“…Another important factor, however, might be the distinctiveness of the target and the nontarget study contexts. Both in the present study and in Dywan et al (2002;Dywan et al, 1998;Dywan et al, 2001), target and nontarget items were presented in separate study phases. In Wilding and Rugg (1997) and Cycowicz et al (2001), by contrast, the two classes of items were intermixed within a single study phase.…”

“…Whereas a parietal effect was observed for targets, no effect was detected for excluded nontargets. This striking finding (see Arsenault, 2002, andDywan, Segalowitz, Webster, Hendry, &Harding, 2001, for replications)suggests that there may be circumstances in which subjects are in some sense able to "inhibit" or "suppress" recollection of nontarget items in exclusion tasks.…”