[ENG]Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to determine
the effects of level of processing on true and false memory,
using the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm.
In the DRM paradigm, lists of words highly associated to
a single nonpresented word (the ‘critical lure’) are studied
and, in a subsequent memory test, critical lures are often
falsely remembered. Lists with three critical lures per list
were auditorily presented here to participants who studied
them with either a shallow (saying whether the word
contained the letter ‘o’) or a deep (creating a mental image
of the word) processing task. Visual presentation modality
was used on a final recognition test. True recognition of
studied words was significantly higher after deep
encoding, whereas false recognition of nonpresented
critical lures was similar in both experimental groups. At
the ERP level, true and false recognition showed similar
patterns: no FN400 effect was found, whereas comparable
left parietal and late right frontal old/new effects were
found for true and false recognition in both experimental
conditions. Items studied under shallow encoding
conditions elicited more positive ERP than items studied
under deep encoding conditions at a 1000–1500ms
interval. These ERP results suggest that true and false
recognition share some common underlying processes.
Differential effects of level of processing on true and false
memory were found only at the behavioral level but not
at the ERP level.
