Differentiating location- and distance-based processes in memory for time: An ERP study

Abstract

Memory for the time of events may benefit from reconstructive, location-based, and distance-based processes, but these processes are difficult to dissociate with behavioral methods. Neuropsychological research has emphasized the contribution of prefrontal brain mechanisms to memory for time but has not clearly differentiated location- from distance-based processing. The present experiment recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) while subjects completed two different temporal memory tests, designed to emphasize either location- or distance-based processing. The subjects’ reports of locationbased versus distance-based strategies and the reaction time pattern validated our experimental manipulation. Late (800–1,800 msec) frontal ERP effects were related to location-based processing. The results provide support for a two-process theory of memory for time and suggest that frontal memory mechanisms are specifically related to reconstructive, location-based processing.

Publisher

Springer Verlag

Publication Date

9-1-2003

Publication Title

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03196536

Language

English

Format

text

Link to Full Text

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