Neurophysiological markers of retrieval-induced forgetting in multiplication fact retrieval GIOVANNI GALFANO, a BARBARA PENOLAZZI, b FRANCESCA FARDO, c ELISAH DHOOGE, d ALESSANDRO ANGRILLI, c and CARLO UMILTA ` c a Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, University of Padova, Padova, Italy b Dipartimento di Psicologia, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy c Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, University of Padova, Padova, Italy d Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Abstract Event-related potential (ERP) counterparts of practice effects in multiplication fact retrieval were examined. Par- ticipants performed a multiplication verification task after having practiced a specific problem set. Practice was either active (retrieval of solutions to multiplication problems) or passive (reexposure to the same operands plus the correct result). Behavioral data showed retrieval-induced facilitation for practiced items and retrieval-induced forgetting for related, unpracticed items, irrespective of practice type. ERPs revealed that, for the active practice group, forgetting was reflected in a reduced N100 component time-locked to result onset. Irrespective of practice type, forgetting was also reflected in a reduced result-locked P350 component, whereas facilitation was associated with an increased amplitude of the same component. These results suggest that beneficial and detrimental effects of practice may be mediated by partially distinct processes. Descriptors: EEG/ERP, Retrieval induced forgetting, Cognitive arithmetic, Memory control Remembering is not always beneficial to memory performance. It is now well known that retrieval practice can give rise to a consistent form of episodic forgetting (e.g., Ba¨ uml, Pasto¨ tter, & Hanslmayr, 2010; Levy & Anderson, 2002). Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the observation that retrieving material can hamper the subsequent retrieval of related, unpracticed ma- terial (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). This phenomenon was originally studied with the so-called retrieval practice paradigm, in which participants first learn several category-exemplar pairs from several categories and then perform retrieval practice for some of the studied exemplars of some categories only. On a final test phase, all learned exemplars are tested in a surprise recall test. Items on this final test are divided into three critical types, prac- ticed items from practiced categories (often referred to as Rp1 items), unpracticed items from practiced categories (re- ferred to as Rp À ), and unpracticed items from unpracticed cat- egories (i.e., neutral items, referred to as Nrp). Typically, Rp1 items are recalled better than Nrp items, an effect termed re- trieval-induced facilitation. More important, however, is the finding that Nrp items are recalled better than Rp À items, i.e., the RIF effect. Hence, retrieval practice is beneficial as regards Rp1 items, but detrimental as regards Rp À items. RIF has generally been interpreted as reflecting two possible mechanisms. According to the inhibitory account (e.g., Ander- son et al., 1994; Ba¨uml et al., 2010; Levy & Anderson, 2002), retrieval practice of some items (Rp 1 ) elicits active inhibition of related memory items (Rp À ) aimed to decrease retrieval com- petition. In contrast, according to the associative interference account (e.g., Camp, Pecher, & Schmidt, 2007; Williams & Zacks, 2001), retrieval practice results in strengthening associ- ations between categories and practiced items that, in turn, blocks or weakens access to related, unpracticed competitors (Raaijmakers & Shiffrin, 1981; Rundus, 1973). Recent neuro- imaging studies have provided consistent evidence that neural mechanisms mediating RIF operate during retrieval practice and not at test, which is inconsistent with the associative interference account (e.g., Johansson, Aslan, Ba¨ uml, Ga¨ bel, & Mecklinger, 2007; Kuhl, Dudukovic, Kahn, & Wagner, 2007; Wimber, Ruts- chmann, Greenlee, & Ba¨ uml, 2009). Additional evidence sup- porting the inhibitory account comes from the observation that retrieval-induced facilitation and RIF result from processes that are dissociable at both the behavioral (e.g., Ba¨ uml & Ku- hbandner, 2007; Roma´ n, Soriano, Go´ mez-Ariza, & Bajo, 2009) and the neural level (e.g., Kuhl et al., 2007; Wimber et al., 2009) and that RIF can be observed using recognition tests (e.g., Hicks & Starns, 2004; Spitzer & Ba¨uml, 2007). RIF has proved a robust effect, and has been replicated with memory tasks other than episodic recall, including recall of This research was supported by a grant from the University of Padova to Giovanni Galfano and by grants from MIUR to Carlo Umilta` and to Alessandro Angrilli. We thank Cyma Van Petten and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms. Address correspondence to: Giovanni Galfano, Dipartimento di Psi- cologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Universita` di Padova, Via Venezia, 8, I-35131, Padova, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]Psychophysiology, 48 (2011), 1681–1691. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Printed in the USA. Copyright r 2011 Society for Psychophysiological Research DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01267.x 1681
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Neurophysiological markers of retrieval-induced
forgetting in multiplication fact retrieval
GIOVANNI GALFANO,a BARBARA PENOLAZZI,b FRANCESCA FARDO,c
ELISAH DHOOGE,d ALESSANDRO ANGRILLI,c and CARLO UMILTAc
aDipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, University of Padova, Padova, ItalybDipartimento di Psicologia, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalycDipartimento di Psicologia Generale, University of Padova, Padova, ItalydDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Abstract
Event-related potential (ERP) counterparts of practice effects in multiplication fact retrieval were examined. Par-
ticipants performed a multiplication verification task after having practiced a specific problem set. Practice was either
active (retrieval of solutions to multiplication problems) or passive (reexposure to the same operands plus the correct
result). Behavioral data showed retrieval-induced facilitation for practiced items and retrieval-induced forgetting for
related, unpracticed items, irrespective of practice type. ERPs revealed that, for the active practice group, forgetting
was reflected in a reduced N100 component time-locked to result onset. Irrespective of practice type, forgetting was
also reflected in a reduced result-locked P350 component, whereas facilitation was associated with an increased
amplitude of the same component. These results suggest that beneficial and detrimental effects of practice may be
mediated by partially distinct processes.
Descriptors: EEG/ERP, Retrieval induced forgetting, Cognitive arithmetic, Memory control
Remembering is not always beneficial to memory performance.
It is now well known that retrieval practice can give rise to a
consistent form of episodic forgetting (e.g., Bauml, Pastotter, &
Hanslmayr, 2010; Levy & Anderson, 2002). Retrieval-induced
forgetting (RIF) refers to the observation that retrievingmaterial
can hamper the subsequent retrieval of related, unpracticed ma-
terial (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). This phenomenon was
originally studied with the so-called retrieval practice paradigm,
in which participants first learn several category-exemplar pairs
from several categories and then perform retrieval practice for
some of the studied exemplars of some categories only. On a final
test phase, all learned exemplars are tested in a surprise recall test.
Items on this final test are divided into three critical types, prac-
ticed items from practiced categories (often referred to as
Rp1 items), unpracticed items from practiced categories (re-
ferred to as Rp� ), and unpracticed items from unpracticed cat-
egories (i.e., neutral items, referred to as Nrp). Typically, Rp1
items are recalled better than Nrp items, an effect termed re-
trieval-induced facilitation. More important, however, is the
finding that Nrp items are recalled better than Rp� items, i.e.,
the RIF effect. Hence, retrieval practice is beneficial as regards
Rp1 items, but detrimental as regards Rp� items.
RIF has generally been interpreted as reflecting two possible
mechanisms. According to the inhibitory account (e.g., Ander-
son et al., 1994; Bauml et al., 2010; Levy & Anderson, 2002),
retrieval practice of some items (Rp1) elicits active inhibition of
related memory items (Rp� ) aimed to decrease retrieval com-
petition. In contrast, according to the associative interference
account (e.g., Camp, Pecher, & Schmidt, 2007; Williams &
Zacks, 2001), retrieval practice results in strengthening associ-
ations between categories and practiced items that, in turn,
blocks or weakens access to related, unpracticed competitors
and the neural level (e.g., Kuhl et al., 2007; Wimber et al., 2009)
and that RIF can be observed using recognition tests (e.g., Hicks
& Starns, 2004; Spitzer & Bauml, 2007).
RIF has proved a robust effect, and has been replicated
with memory tasks other than episodic recall, including recall of
This researchwas supported by a grant from theUniversity of Padova
to Giovanni Galfano and by grants fromMIUR to Carlo Umilta and to
Alessandro Angrilli. We thank Cyma Van Petten and three anonymous
reviewers for their constructive criticisms.Address correspondence to: Giovanni Galfano, Dipartimento di Psi-
cologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Universita di Padova, ViaVenezia, 8, I-35131, Padova, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]
Psychophysiology, 48 (2011), 1681–1691. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Printed in the USA.Copyrightr 2011 Society for Psychophysiological ResearchDOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01267.x
Figure 1. Sequence of events in the practice and the test phases. In the practice phase (a), two operands were shown on each trial to both the passive
practice and the active practice groups. Participants in the passive practice group were then presented with the correct result and had to read it aloud and
relearn the problem. Participants in the active practice group were shown a question mark instead of the correct result and had to retrieve the result and
speak it aloud. In the test phase (b), both groups were to perform a standard multiplication verification task, with false and correct problems occurring
with the same frequency. A trial with correct result is illustrated. The stimuli are not drawn to scale.
1Inverse efficiency scores are typically used either to lower the impactof a speed–accuracy trade-off or when there is the need to refer to a singleperformance index to simplify data analysis (Townsend & Ashby, 1983).Lower scores in this measure index a better performance, in the samefashion as RTs (see, e.g., Galfano & Pavani, 2005).
indices of retrieval-induced facilitation and RIF were computed
according to the following formulas: IEtwo� operand� IEzero�operand
for retrieval-induced facilitation and IEzero�operand� IEone�operand
for RIF. More negative values in these indices reflect stronger
retrieval-induced facilitation and RIF, respectively. On the elect-
rophysiological side, waveform differences were computed by
subtractingmean amplitudes of the zero-operand condition from
mean amplitudes of the two-operand condition to index re-
trieval-induced facilitation and by subtracting mean amplitudes
of the one-operand condition frommean amplitudes of the zero-
operand condition to index RIF. Then, Spearman rank corre-
lation analyses were performed between behavioral and ERP
indexes associated with retrieval-induced facilitation and be-
tween behavioral and ERP indices associated with RIF. To avoid
1686 G. Galfano et al.
Figure 2.Electrophysiological results in the test phase for the active practice group (a) and the passive practice group (b). Grand-averagewaveformswere
recorded at F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, and P4 sites, from top to bottom. 0 ms refers to operand onset, 500 ms refers to result onset. The rectangles
superimposed on the ERP waveforms indicate the time windows included in the analyses.
inflation of significant results due to multiple comparisons, we
only considered a result as important if two or more correlations
were significant in adjacent electrodes. Correlation analyses were
performed based on the outcomes of the ANOVA. Specifically,
whenever a significant interaction involving group as factor
emerged, separate correlation analyses were performed. The a
level was adjusted for the number of comparisons according to
the false discovery rate (i.e., the expected proportion of the re-
jected null hypotheses that are erroneously rejected; Benjamini &
Hochberg, 1995).
Results
Behavioral Data
The ANOVA on RTs for correct responses revealed a significant
main effect of operand set, F(2,60)5 21.104, e5 .88, Zp25 .41,
p5 .001. Post hoc comparisons showed that participants verified
a correct result belonging to the two-operand set (M5 639 ms,
SD5 204) marginally faster (p5 .06) than a correct result be-
longing to the zero-operand set (M5 675 ms, SD5 161), in line
with a retrieval-induced facilitation effect. In addition, consistent
with RIF, participants took significantly longer to verify a cor-
rect result belonging to the one-operand set (M5 754 ms,
SD5 224) compared to the zero-operand set. Critically, no other
sources of variance were significant (lowest p5 .23). Hence, the
data showed that RIF and retrieval-induced facilitation were
unaffected by whether participants engaged in either passive or
active practice (see Table 1).
The ANOVA on proportion of correct responses yielded a
significant main effect of operand set, F(2,60)5 17.39, e5 .88,
Zp25 .49, p5 .001. Post hoc comparisons showed that partici-
pants were significantly more accurate when the correct result
belonged to the two-operand set (M5 0.95, SD5 0.03) than to
the zero-operand set (M5 0.92, SD5 0.05), consistent with a
retrieval-induced facilitation effect. In addition, participants
were less accurate in verifying a correct result belonging to the
one-operand set (M5 0.88, SD5 0.08) compared to the zero-
operand set, in line with RIF. There were no overall differences
between groups (p5 .15), but the Operand Set � Group inter-
action fell short of significance, F(2,60)5 2.59, e5 .88, Zp25 .16,
p5 .08. However, as shown in Table 1, this pattern seems to
reflect differences, if any, in retrieval-induced facilitation (and
not in RIF) as a function of group. In sum, the pattern of ac-
curacy data is fully consistent with RT data and makes the pos-
sibility of a speed-accuracy tradeoff unlikely.
ERP Data: Operand-Locked Analyses
P200. The ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of oper-
and set, F(2,60)5 3.45, e5 .99, Zp25 .195, p5 .03. Post hoc
comparisons revealed that amplitude of the P200 componentwas
significantly smaller for operands belonging to the two-operand
set compared to results belonging to the zero-operand set. Am-
plitude for operands of the one-operand set fell in between, al-
though they were not significantly different from either
conditions. Because this pattern was clearly inconsistent with
respect to RIF (see the Discussion section), no correlation an-
alyses were performed at the level of this component.
ERP Data: Result-Locked Analyses
N100. The ANOVA performed on the first result-locked com-
ponent showed a significant main effect of operand set,
F(2,60)5 4.14, e5 .84, Zp25 .121, p5 .03. Post hoc compari-
sons revealed that amplitude of the N100 component was sig-
nificantly higher for results belonging to the two-operand set
compared to results belonging to the one-operand set. Although
not significantly different from the other conditions, amplitude
for results belonging to the zero-operand set fell between those of
the one-operand and the two-operand sets. Importantly, the
Operand Set � Laterality � Group interaction was also signifi-
between the magnitude of behavioral retrieval-induced facilita-
tion and amplitude differences involving zero- and two-operand
sets. This suggests that participants with stronger behavioral re-
trieval-induced facilitation showed larger amplitudes in the two-
operand condition compared with the zero-operand condition.
Discussion
The present study addressed RIF in the context of semantic
memory of multiplication facts. Our first aim was replicating the
findings reported by Phenix and Campbell (2004) to establish the
robustness of RIF in a different memory system from that ex-
plored by classic studies (e.g., Levy & Anderson, 2002) and to
test its viability as a general phenomenon associated with mem-
ory retrieval. In full accordance with Phenix and Campbell,
whose participants performed active retrieval practice, the pres-
ent behavioral results for the active practice group showed that
performance (in terms of both latency and accuracy) in the one-
operand condition was significantly worse than in the zero-
operand condition (indicating a RIF effect), and performance in
the two-operand condition was significantly better than in the
zero-operand condition (indicating a retrieval-induced facilita-
tion). This replication shows that RIF is a general phenomenon,
taking place also in semantic memory and, more specifically, in
the domain of arithmetic facts (also see Campbell & Phenix,
2009; Campbell & Timm, 2000).
The second purpose of the present study was testing whether
RIF in the domain of arithmetic facts can be elicited also when
active retrieval is not explicitly required. To this aim, we sub-
mitted a second group of participants (i.e., the passive practice
group) to a different type of practice, requiring the simple re-
learning of the same subset of items overtly recalled by the active
practice group. This practice type has consistently been shown
not to induce RIF in behavioral measures in classic episodic
memory studies, likely because passive study of items does not
give rise to competition from related material (e.g., Anderson et
al., 2000; Johansson et al., 2007). As anticipated in the Intro-
duction section, however, several arguments suggest that the
context of semanticmemory ofmultiplication factsmay be rather
different from that of semantic knowledge. As a first observation,
the long-term memory stores for general knowledge about the
world (i.e., semantic memory) and arithmetic knowledge of
numbers (i.e., semantic memory of arithmetic facts), although
often modeled according to similar processing mechanisms such
as spreading activation (see, e.g., Ashcraft, 1992), are function-
ally independent, as they can result selectively impaired in neu-
ropsychological patients (e.g., Cappelletti et al., 2005; Zamarian
et al., 2006). In addition, recent electrophysiological evidence has
shown that although both semantic and arithmetic incongruenc-
es elicit modulations at the level of the N400 component of ERPs
(e.g., Galfano et al., 2004, 2009; Jost et al., 2004; Niedeggen et
al., 1999; Niedeggen, &Rosler, 1999), thesemodulations seem to
occur earlier in time in the arithmetic domain (Jost et al., 2004;
Niedeggen et al., 1999). Finally, and most important, consistent
behavioral evidence has been reported showing that the simple
viewing of a digit pair activates the related nodes in the multi-
plication table (i.e., the product and the neighboring multiples).
More specifically, it has been shown that this knowledge is
1688 G. Galfano et al.
Figure 4.Meanvoltages (mV) for the active practice group and the passive
practice group as function of laterality (left scalp region: F3, C3, and P3;
midline scalp region: Fz, Cz, and Pz; right scalp region: F4, C4, and P4)
and operand set (zero-operand, one-operand, and two-operand) in the
analysis of the N100 (80–120 ms) component time-locked to the onset of
the result.
activated involuntarily because it interferes during execution of
tasks in which arithmetic is irrelevant (e.g., De Brauwer & Fias,
2009; Galfano et al., 2003; Rusconi, Galfano, Speriani, &
Umilta, 2004; Zamarian et al., 2006). On the basis of these ar-
guments, we have tested whether RIF would have been observed
even in participants simply asked to study simple multiplication
problems. Indeed, we have hypothesized that passive exposure in
the context of multiplication facts may entail execution of a re-
trieval process even when it is not explicitly required.
Importantly, unlike classic RIF studies, implicit retrieval was
favored in the present experiment by sequential presentation of
the to-be-studied items. Behavioral results were consistent with
this scenario in that participants in the passive practice group
showed evidence of both RIF and retrieval-induced facilitation.
ERP data, however, showed differences that make the over-
all picture much more complex than it appears from behavioral
results.
To ascertain whether differences between experimental con-
ditions emerged before the onset of the result, the first ERP an-
alyses were time-locked to the onset of the operands. A positive
deflection peaking around 200 ms after operand onset was iden-
tified. Independent of group, the amplitude of this operand-
locked P200 was significantly higher for the zero-operand
condition than for the two-operand condition, whereas ampli-
tude for the one-operand set was not significantly different from
amplitude values of either the zero- or the two-operand condi-
tions. This pattern does not appear to be consistent withRIF-like
effects in that one should have expectedmean voltage of the zero-
operand set to fall in between that of the one- and the two-
operand sets, given that, according to RIF, results belonging to
the one-operand set should be inhibited/less activated than those
belonging to the zero-operand set. In light of this reasoning and
because this component seems very early, we tend to exclude the
possibility that it reflects RIF-related processes. By contrast, we
interpret the pattern as reflecting processes related to preactiva-
tion of operands in memory, so that P200 amplitude is inversely
associated with operand activation.
The first result-locked ERP component, the N100, is much
more informative as regards the issue of establishing whether
RIF in the domain of arithmetic facts can be elicited also when
active retrieval is not explicitly required. Unlike behavioral data,
this component revealed a clear dissociation as a function of
practice type. Consistent with a RIF-like pattern, amplitude of
this component was significantly reduced, all over the scalp, in
the one-operand condition with respect to the zero-operand
condition, but only for the active practice group. In sharp con-
trast, on both right and midline electrode sites, the passive prac-
tice group showed a modulation that appears compatible with
retrieval-induced facilitation in that amplitude of the N100 was
higher for the two-operand condition than for the zero-operand
condition. This finding is relevant also with respect to the third
purpose of the present study, that is, the attempt to establish the
plausibility, in the arithmetic domain, of the mechanisms that
have been proposed as underlying RIF in the word domain for
episodic retrieval. Two main accounts have been posited as the
cause of RIF. On the one hand, following the inhibitory account
(e.g., Anderson et al., 1994; Bauml et al., 2010), retrieval practice
of a given item would elicit inhibition of related items aimed at
reducing retrieval competition. On the other hand, according to
the associative interference account (e.g., Williams & Zacks,
2001), RIF would occur as a sort of side effect due to the fact that
retrieval practice consolidates associations between practiced
items, and these strengthened associations, in turn, cause the
weakened access to related competitors due to blocking-like
phenomena (e.g., Rundus, 1973). The analyses of the result-
lockedN100, showing that amplitude wasmodulated following a
RIF-like pattern only in the active practice group, are consistent
with an inhibitory view of RIF in that this is the only account
predicting a different RIF-related response depending on prac-
tice type. This finding is particularly important in light of the fact
that, because retrieval of arithmetic knowledge is strongly auto-
matic (e.g., De Brauwer & Fias, 2009; Galfano et al., 2003), one
could have expected similar processing dynamics for the two
groups, which might have resulted in a similar ERP pattern mir-
roring behavioral results. As regards the functional meaning of
theN100, it has been suggested that amplitude of this component
is sensitive to anticipatory processes (e.g., Vogel & Luck, 2000)
that may be at work also in the current paradigm in which an-
ticipation of an equation’s result may be expected. In the present
experiment, this component may overlap with ongoing processes
elicited by operand onset and it probably reflects also memory
control processes. The presence of a facilitation-like pattern se-
lective for the passive practice group was unexpected. This find-
ing on one hand appears to confirm that practice type played an
important role, but on the other hand, it suggests that in the
present context, RIF and retrieval-induced facilitation are asso-
ciated with the modulation of the same early ERP component,
although in a different way, depending on practice type. The lack
of significant brain–behavior correlations suggests that more ex-
perimental work is needed to clarify the functional meaning of
the modulations observed at the level of N100, although the
observed dissociation as a function of practice type probably
reflects the presence of inhibitory processes for the active practice
group only.
Interesting effects were also found at the level of the P350
component time-locked to the onset of the result. This posterior
positive deflection has already been reported in several studies
using the arithmetic verification task (see, e.g., Niedeggen et al.,
1999). In this kind of paradigm, this component is typically ob-
served in response to correct results in a time window similar to
that examined here (Niedeggen & Rosler, 1999). In the present
study, examination of such a component revealed that, indepen-
dent of group, amplitude was significantly smaller for results
belonging to the one-operand set than for results belonging to the
zero-operand set, consistent with a RIF-like pattern. In addition,
although no overall retrieval-induced facilitation pattern
emerged in the ANOVA, significant correlations over fronto-
central sites were found between P350 amplitude differences and
both retrieval-induced facilitation and RIF. In detail, partici-
pants with stronger retrieval-induced facilitation in behavioral
data showed larger amplitudes in the two-operand condition
compared with the zero-operand condition, at least at some
electrodes. At the same time, participants with stronger behav-
ioral RIF showed higher amplitudes in the zero-operand condi-
tion comparedwith the one-operand condition. One possibility is
that this pattern of results may reflect variations in recollective
processes, so that better recollection could be expected for prac-
ticed items, and, if inhibition occurs, subsequent impaired recol-
lection for unpracticed items may arise as well. In other words,
the P350 in the present context may represent an index of the
level of activation of cue–item associations, a proposal that will
be strengthened if the association between late positive amplitude
and facilitation is confirmed by replication. Specifically, this
component may reflect variations in cue–item association
ERPs and retrieval-induced forgetting 1689
strength, according to which increased activation of practiced
associations (accounting for retrieval-induced facilitation) would
cause the subsequent blocking or reduced access to unpracticed,
related competitors (accounting for RIF; e.g., Williams & Zacks,
2001). To note, in line with this interpretation, recent functional
magnetic resonance imaging evidence has been reported docu-
menting both an inhibition and a blocking component of RIF at
test (Wimber et al., 2008). In this regard, it is important to em-
phasize that, in the present study, the test phase consisted of the
presentation of the equation in two separate steps, with the onset
of the problem first (e.g., 2 � 5), followed by presentation of the
result to be verified (i.e., 10). This sequential presentation of
items may have elicited recall processes with the possibility that
blocking-related processes may have played a role to some ex-
tent. Thus, it is possible that the specific experimental task de-
vised to investigate RIF in the present experiment (which is
typically used to address arithmetic knowledge in EEG studies)
played a role in eliciting blocking-like phenomena along with
inhibition. The reason why Spitzer et al. (2009) found ERP ev-
idence for inhibition in isolation (i.e., without blocking-like pro-
cesses) is likely due to the adoption of a widely interference-free
test (i.e., item recognition), whereas in the present study we used
a recall situation, in which RIF is likely to reflect both inhibition
and some degree of interference (also see Wimber et al., 2008).
Overall, our ERP findings appear to be consistent, at least in
part, with the inhibitory account of RIF. In particular, we in-
terpret the fact that RIF was reflected in the amplitude modu-
lation of an ERP component (i.e., the N100) only for the group
that was engaged in active, deliberate, retrieval at practice as
evidence of inhibitory processes operating during the practice
phase. The specific amplitude gradient involving RIF and re-
trieval-induced facilitation at the level of P350 and the related
correlation analyses suggest that RIF in the domain of semantic
retrieval of arithmetic facts may, at least in part, be linked to
retrieval interference processes that cause retrieval-induced fa-
cilitation and that are likely to reflect quantitative differences in
spreading activation within the lexicon of arithmetic facts
(Censabella, & Noel, 2004). Alternatively, as discussed earlier,
the P350 pattern that emerged in the present experiment may
simply reflect the fact that our task in the test phase favored the
occurrence of blocking-like phenomena, including some degree
of interference (see also Wimber et al., 2008).
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(Received May 31, 2010; Accepted May 24, 2011)
Appendix
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Table A.1. Multiplication Problems Including Correct Results and
Lures When the Two-Operand Set Consisted of 2, 5, 7, and 8