| Context reinstatement has been shown to facilitate word and source recognition. In an auditory ERP experiment, participants performed both recognition tasks with words spoken in four voices. Two voice parameters varied between speakers, with the possibility that none, one or two of these parameters was congruent between study and test. Results indicate that reinstating the study voice at test facilitates both word and speaker memory, compared with no benefit when only one voice parameter is similar. This implies that voices are encoded as acoustic patterns rather than as the sum of their vocal attributes. ERPs revealed, in addition to three expected memory-related modulations, a pre-recollection positivity associated with this reinstatement benefit in both tests. This positivity, likely reflecting acoustic recognition, occurred at 400ms over parietal regions in the word test and started as early as 120ms and 175ms over right frontal and right temporal areas, respectively, in the speaker test. |
