Negative cortical potentials when classifying familiar and unfamiliar faces.

Event-related potential (ERPs) were recorded while subjects were classifying familiar faces of celebrities according to profession in one task, or unfamiliar faces according to gender in another task. Familiar faces given rise to an enhancement of the late negative ERP component confined to parieto-occipital sites. The finding is considered to reflect parietal and occipital lobe involvement in the activation of memories pertinent to familiar faces. Moreover, the late negative component was more prominent over the right than the left occipital lobe.