ERPs to encoding and recognition in two different inter-item association tasks.

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