ERP correlates of auditory negative priming

Negative priming refers to slowed down reactions when the distractor on one trial becomes the target on the next. Following two popular accounts, the effect might be due either to inhibitory processes associated with the frontal cortex, or to an ambiguity in the retrieval of episodic information. We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to identify the processing stage primarily associated with negative priming. In an auditory categorization task, reactions in negative priming trials were compared to reactions in a standard control (unrelated primes and probes) and a repetition control (attended prime=ignored probe) condition. Reactions were slower for negative priming than for standard control (Delta32 ms) and repetition control trials (Delta64 ms). The corresponding ERP effect was reflected in an attenuation of a sustained parietal positivity extending from 300 to 600 ms. Because corresponding ERP components were found to be sensitive to stimulus recognition and familiarity, the results may be interpreted to support an episodic retrieval account of negative priming.