ERPS TO ENCODING AND RECOGNITION IN 2 DIFFERENT INTERITEM ASSOCIATIONTASKS

EVENT-RELATED potentials were obtained during study and recognition of word pairs in an incidental learning paradigm. Word pairs were studie d either by performing a semantic judgment separately for each word (n on-associative encoding) or by creating a semantic association between the two words (associative encoding). Only word pairs encoded associa tively elicited a reliable dm-effect with a right frontal maximum. Rec ognition of previously studied word pairs revealed two topographically and temporally distinct old/new effects: an earlier parietal effect w hich was only reliable for associatively encoded items and a right fro ntal effect which was of equal magnitude for word pairs from both enco ding tasks. The findings suggest that ERP effects of distinct memory p rocesses are differentially influenced by the encoding instructions.