A meta-analysis of event-related potential correlates of recognition memory

Kwon, Simon, Rugg, Michael D., Wiegand, Ronny, Curran, Tim and Morcom, Alexa M. (2023) A meta-analysis of event-related potential correlates of recognition memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 30 (6). pp. 2083-2105. ISSN 1069-9384

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Abstract

A longstanding question in memory research is whether recognition is supported by more than one mnemonic process. Dual-process models distinguish recollection of episodic detail from familiarity, while single-process models explain recognition in terms of one process that varies in strength. Dual process models have drawn support from findings that recollection and familiarity elicit distinct electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs): a mid-frontal ERP effect that occurs at around 300–500 ms post-stimulus onset and is often larger for familiarity than recollection contrasts, and a parietal ERP effect that occurs at around 500–800 ms and is larger for recollection than familiarity contrasts. We sought to adjudicate between dual- and single-process models by investigating whether the dissociation between these two ERP effects is reliable over studies. We extracted effect sizes from 41 experiments that had used Remember-Know, source memory, and associative memory paradigms (1,000 participants). Meta-analysis revealed a strong interaction between ERP effect and mnemonic process of the form predicted by dual-process models. Although neither ERP effect was significantly process-selective taken alone, a moderator analysis revealed a larger mid-frontal effect for familiarity than recollection contrasts in studies using the Remember-Know paradigm. Mega-analysis of raw data from six studies further showed significant process-selectivity for both mid-frontal and parietal ERPs in the predicted time windows. On balance, the findings favor dual- over single-process theories of recognition memory, but point to a need to promote sharing of raw data.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The data and code are available via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/acwtv/.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	event-related potentials,familiarity,meta-analysis,recognition memory,recollection,experimental and cognitive psychology,developmental and educational psychology,arts and humanities (miscellaneous) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3205
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	24 Jun 2026 11:12
Last Modified:	25 Jun 2026 14:34
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103483
DOI:	10.3758/s13423-023-02309-y

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