Event-related potentials during the continuous visual memory test

• Published in: Journal of clinical psychology Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 43 - 47
• Main Authors: Retzlaff, Paul D., Morris, Grant L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brandon Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.01.1996; Wiley; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Arousal - physiology; Attention - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Event-Related Potentials, P300 - physiology; Female; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Mental Recall - physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Psychological tests; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reference Values; Sensory perception; Techniques and methods; Human; Memory; Neuropsychological test; Electrophysiology; Psychometrics; Cognition; Electroencephalography; Test validation; Acquisition process; Adult; Diagnosis; Stimulus discrimination; Event evoked potential
• ISSN: 0021-9762; 1097-4679
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4679(199601)52:1<43::AID-JCLP6>3.0.CO;2-X

The Continuous Visual Memory Test (CVMT; Trahan & Larrabee, 1988) is a recognition format assessment of figural memory. It includes 112 ambiguous designs presented sequentially, with a number of designs that recur through the 112 presentations. The patient's task is to identify the recurring figures by responding with the word “old” for recurring stimuli and “new” for non‐recurring stimuli. This study examined cortical event‐related potentials during discrimination of old vs. new stimuli. While no latency differences between stimuli were found, P300 amplitude was greater during recognition of old stimuli and increasingly prominent at anterior sites. A stimulus by electrode site interaction suggests greater functional involvement in the discrimination by the frontal areas. This points to a degree of psychophysiological validation of the CVMT and cortical specificity of the task. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.