The oscillatory dynamics of recognition memory and its relationship to event-related responses

Cereb Cortex. 2005 Dec;15(12):1992-2002. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhi074. Epub 2005 Mar 16.

Abstract

The large-scale neural dynamics underlying higher cognitive processes are characterized by at least three types of stimulus-response: (i) the resetting of ongoing oscillatory brain activity without concomitant changes in response amplitude (phase alignment response); (ii) the addition of response amplitude to the ongoing brain activity in a time-locked manner (evoked response); and (iii) the addition of response amplitude that is not time-locked (induced response). Recent animal studies identified evoked responses as a characteristic neural response during stimulus perception but leave open the possibility that higher cognition, such as memory, is characterized more predominantly by phase alignment and/or induced responses. Using whole-head single-trial magnetoencephalography data from eight healthy adults, we show that all three types of response are related to the discrimination of old and new stimuli in a visual word recognition memory paradigm. In four subjects, single-trial evoked responses were the single constituents of event-related field old/new differences that have been previously related to familiarity-based and recollection-based recognition memory. While these data show that the oscillatory brain dynamics underlying recognition memory are characterized by a complex mix of three types of stimulus-response, they also clearly implicate evoked responses in higher cognitive processes such as recognition memory.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cognition / physiology
  • Discrimination, Psychological / physiology
  • Evoked Potentials, Visual / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetoencephalography*
  • Male
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology
  • Periodicity*
  • Recognition, Psychology / physiology*
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology
  • Visual Perception / physiology