J Cogn Neurosci. 1992 Winter;4(1):69-79. doi: 10.1162/jocn.1992.4.1.69.
Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while subjects made recognition judgments on high- and low-frequency words, half of which had previously been presented in an incidental study task. Compared to high-frequency items, low-frequency words were associated with superior recognition performance, and attracted a higher proportion of confident judgments. In the case of the low-frequency words only, the region of the ERPs post-500 msec evoked by correctly classified, previously studied (old) words was more positive-going than was the same region of the EWs to nonstudied (new) words. These "old/new" ERP differences were larger from electrodes over the left than over the right hemisphere. This old/new by frequency interaction held when EWs were formed only from words that attracted confident judgments. It is argued that these data are consistent with the ideas that (1) post-500 msec "old/ new" EW differences in recognition memory tasks reflect differences in old and new words' levels of relative familiarity, and (2) the recognition memory advantage for low-frequency words results, at least in part, from the higher level of relative familiarity engendered at test by previously studied low-frequency items. The data are interpreted as providing support for "two-process" models of recognition memory.
事件相关电位（ERPs）在被试对高频和低频词进行识别判断时被记录下来，其中一半的词之前在一项偶然的研究任务中出现过。与高频词相比，低频词与更好的识别表现相关联，并吸引了更高比例的自信判断。在低频词的情况下，由正确分类的、之前研究过的（旧）词引起的 ERP 后 500 毫秒的区域比相同的 EW 对未研究过的（新）词的区域更正向。在左侧电极上的这些“旧/新”ERP 差异大于右侧电极上的差异。当 EW 仅由吸引自信判断的词组成时，这种“旧/新”的频率交互保持不变。这表明这些数据与以下观点一致：（1）在识别记忆任务中，500 毫秒后“旧/新”EW 差异反映了旧词和新词相对熟悉程度的差异；（2）低频词的识别记忆优势至少部分源于在测试中由之前研究过的低频词引起的相对熟悉程度的提高。这些数据被解释为提供了对识别记忆的“双过程”模型的支持。
