Event-related brain potentials dissociate visual working memory processes under categorial and identical comparison conditions

Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been successfully employed to examine the functional and neuronal characteristics of working memory processes. In the present study, we examined the ERP waveforms in a delayed matching task to examine the cognitive processes underlying category and identity comparison and the effects of stimulus complexity. Subjects had to decide whether two visual stimuli are (a) physically identical (identical comparison condition, IC) or (b) identical, irrespective of their orientation (categorial comparison condition, CC). The stimuli were structured five-point patterns, which varied in complexity. For the ERPs elicited during the 1500 ms retention interval, the following pattern of results was obtained: Stimuli in the CC-condition elicited larger P300 components than in the IC-condition. In the IC-condition, the P300 was followed by a broadly distributed negative slow wave. Moreover, complex patterns elicited a posteriorily distributed negativity at 350 ms (N350), whereas the less complex patterns gave rise to a fronto-centrally distributed slow wave that started around 500 ms. These results suggest that S1 was more elaborately processed in the CC-condition, while the more complex figures were associated with an early classification process during the retention interval. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.