ERP correlates of familiarity and recollection processes in visual associative recognition.

Associative recognition memory often is thought to rely primarily on recollection processes, but opinions differ regarding the possible contribution of familiarity. The current experiments capitalized on hypothesized event-related potential (ERP) measures of familiarity and recollection to assess the contribution of each process to associative recognition. In two ERP experiments, participants studied pairs of fractals and were later tested on their ability to recognize the studied pairs. Early (100-175 ms) visual ERP components were sensitive to the novelty of individual fractals, but later components hypothesized to be indicative of familiarity and recollection were sensitive to the novelty of the association between fractals. These relationships suggest that accurate memory for visual associations may be dependent on both familiarity and recollection processes.