EVENT-RELATED BRAIN POTENTIALS DIFFERENTIATE PRIMING AND RECOGNITION TO FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR FACES

Recent studies from our laboratory have resulted in the identification of an event-related potential (ERP) correlate of a visual memory proc ess. This memory process is reflected by a reduction in the voltage of the visual memory potential (VMP) to repeated pictures of unfamiliar faces compared to novel pictures of faces. In the current experiment w e used unfamiliar and famous faces in an identical repetition priming paradigm, while the subject differentially recognized famous from non- famous faces. Significant differences in response times were obtained between primed and unprimed familiar faces, but not between primed and unprimed unfamiliar faces. The VMP was reduced to primed unfamiliar f aces and significantly diminished to primed familiar faces compared to unprimed stimuli. Priming was typically reflected by a reduction of t he VMP at the occipito-temporal region, whereas recognition resulted i n a diminution of the VMP at both the occipito-temporal region and at the frontal region. These data support the involvement of differential neural systems for priming and recognition of visual stimuli.