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Abstract:
Abstract: Recent research using event-related potentials
(ERPs) to investigate visual recognition memory in infants has used
a paradigm in which the infant is shown two stimuli, one familiar
and one novel, in a randomly alternating pattern over 100 trials.
Inferences regarding visual recognition memory are based on a
comparison of the ERPs to the familiar and novel stimuli. One
question which has not been addressed in previous studies is how
the ERP to a novel stimulus changes as the stimulus becomes
familiar. This question is of theoretical importance with regard to
infant habituation and novelty preference paradigms that are also
thought to assess visual recognition memory. It is also of
methodological importance since all infants do not see the same
number of trials(due to fussiness, etc.). Using data sets from
three different studies conducted in our lab, we have re-analyzed
the ERPs to both the familiar and novel stimuli into successive
blocks of 20 trials to see how the ERP to a novel stimulus evolves
over repeated presentation, and to assess whether this pattern can
be attributed to general effects of stimulus repetition or
familiarization. Preliminary analyses suggests that the morphology
of the slow wave activity (i.e. 800 - 1500 msec) evolves from a
baseline response to a positive slow wave on the 4th block of
trials, a response thought to reflect memory updating for a
familiar stimulus.
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