Neuroelectric Evidence for Cognitive Association Formation: An Event-Related Potential Investigation

Alice S N Kim, Malcolm A Binns and Claude Alain

PLOS ONE, 2012, vol. 7, issue 4, 1-9

Abstract: Although many types of learning require associations to be formed, little is known about the brain mechanisms engaged in association formation. In the present study, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) while participants studied pairs of semantically related words, with each word of a pair presented sequentially. To narrow in on the associative component of the signal, the ERP difference between the first and second words of a pair (Word2-Word1) was derived separately for subsequently recalled and subsequently not-recalled pairs. When the resulting difference waveforms were contrasted, a parietal positivity was observed for subsequently recalled pairs around 460 ms after the word presentation onset, followed by a positive slow wave that lasted until around 845 ms. Together these results suggest that associations formed between semantically related words are correlated with a specific neural signature that is reflected in scalp recordings over the parietal region.

Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0034856

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034856

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