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ERP Evidence for Distinct Temporal Dynamics of Masked Conceptual and Repetition Priming in Recognition Memory

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 5:00 – 7:00 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Hera Y-J Baek¹ (), Alex Kafkas¹, Jason R Taylor¹; ¹University of Manchester

Processing fluency, the ease with which information is processed, affects recognition memory. In masked repetition priming, a briefly presented identical word preceding a recognition test item can increase false familiarity for unstudied words, as perceptual fluency is misattributed to memory. Conversely, masked conceptual priming enhances accurate recollection of studied items (Taylor & Henson, 2012). We investigated the neural correlates and temporal dynamics of masked repetition and conceptual priming during recognition memory using event-related potentials (ERPs) in N=32 participants. Behavioral results showed a cross-over interaction trend: conceptual priming increased recollection (p = .076, 3.24% priming effect) while repetition priming significantly increased false familiarity (p = .002, 4.48% priming effect). Classic old/new ERP effects were observed: FN400 on Fz indexed familiarity and the late positive component (LPC) on Pz indexed recollection. Fractional area latency (FAL) analyses revealed that conceptual primes significantly accelerated LPC for recollected items (739ms) compared to unrelated primes (756ms, p = .01) In contrast, repetition primes showed no such facilitation (744ms vs 738ms, p = 0.42). Furthermore, FN400 latencies for familiarity could not be estimated due to insufficient trial numbers. These findings suggest that conceptual priming selectively speeds up the recollection process indexed by the LPC, whereas no such effect is evident for repetition priming. Counter to the misattribution of fluency to familiarity that explains repetition priming effects, we suspect that conceptual primes enhance correct recollection by facilitating the reactivation of the original encoding trace. Future representational pattern-similarity analyses may shed light on this.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic