P300 as an index of recognition in a standard and difficult match-to-sample test: a model of amnesia in normal adults.

Earlier research has supported the use of a P300 (P3)-based procedure to detect simulated amnesia. In the present experiment, an attempt was made to model the behavior and event-related potentials (ERPs) that amnestic patients might demonstrate with relatively easy recognition memory tests, by increasing the difficulty of a match-to-sample recognition memory test taken by 18 memory-unimpaired undergraduates. None of the participants in the modeled amnesic condition were classified as having intact recognition memory as the result of P3-based intra-individual tests (specificity = 100%). The results support the utility of a P3 procedure for the detection of malingering by demonstrating the procedure to be a valid measure of impaired recognition with this model of amnesia.