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Modulation of Event‐Related Potentials by Word Repetition: The Effects of Inter‐Item Lag
Author(s) -
Nagy Margaret E.,
Rugg Michael D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01946.x
Subject(s) - repetition (rhetorical device) , psychology , lag , audiology , event related potential , word (group theory) , modulation (music) , cognitive psychology , electroencephalography , neuroscience , linguistics , computer science , physics , medicine , computer network , philosophy , acoustics
ABSTRACT The modulation of event‐related potentials by word repetition was investigated in two experiments. In both experiments, subjects responded to occasional nonwords interspersed among a series of words. A proportion of the words were repetitions of previously presented items. Words were repeated after 0 or 6 intervening items in Experiment 1 and after 6 or 19 items in Experiment 2. Event‐related potentials to repeated words were characterised by a sustained, widespread positive‐going shift with an onset of approximately 300 ms. This effect did not vary significantly as a function of lag in either experiment. When words were repeated immediately, this repetition‐evoked positive shift was preceded by a transient negative deflection (onset ca. 200 ms) which was absent in event‐related potentials to words repeated at longer lags. These results suggest that the modulation of event‐related potentials by word repetition is influenced by at least two processes. One of these processes acts relatively early during the processing of a repeated word, but subsides rapidly as inter‐item lag between first and second presentations increases. The second process occurs later in time, but is considerably more robust over variations in inter‐item lag.