A SOURCE memory procedure was used to investigate whether event-related pot
entials (ERPs) reflect the retrieval of episodic information (recollection)
on tests of word-stem cued recall. 'Cued recall ERP effects' for recalled
items were found to differ only in their magnitudes, and not their scalp di
stributions, according to the accuracy of source memory. This finding stron
gly supports the hypothesis that cued recall ERP effects reflect quantitati
ve variation in the amount or quality of information which can be retrieved
about recently experienced events. Topographic analyses also revealed that
the distribution of the cued recall ERP effects changed over time, reflect
ing the activity of at least two temporally and neuroanatomically dissociab
le neural populations contributing to recollection on this task. (C) 1998 L
ippincott Williams & Wilkins.