Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Victoria Papagna Maldonado | Email: victoria.papagna@usal.edu.ar
Victoria Papagna Maldonado1°, Federico José Sanchez1°,Lorenzo Raggi1°2°, Jorge Mario Andreau1°
1° Neuroscience Laboratory. Psychology and Psychopedagogy Department. Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2° Psychology Department, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The FN400 component has been debated as signaling familiarity or semantic processing. This study aimed to clarify its role by integrating both processes. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) activity from 35 participants performing a semantic categorization Go/No-Go task using facial expressions (sad and neutral) as stimuli. We then calculated event-related potential (ERP) activity to analyze the FN400 component. Our results showed a negative wave peaking around 350 ms with prominent activity at frontal electrodes (resembling the FN400). Behavioral data indicated that neutral faces were easier to identify than sad faces, signaling the involvement of a semantic process. When comparing ERP activity for early trials (when the stimuli were new) versus late trials (when the stimuli were old), we found that the FN400-like component was not modulated by the old/new effect, supporting the notion that it may reflect semantic categorization rather than familiarity. These findings challenge the view of FN400 as a measure of familiarity and support its role in semantic processing, suggesting that future research should use tasks designed to separate these processes for a more precise understanding of the FN400 component.