N400 is implicit and transient – although the activity elicited by a given input will have an influence for a short time (e.g., in the form of repetition or conceptual priming effects), even when explicit memory systems are compromised (as in amnesics, for example). Furthermore, given that the N400, and effects on it, can be obtained under conditions of reduced awareness, it seems unlikely that N400 activity is directly responsible for the conscious experience of meaning (although the presence of N400 activity may be a useful marker of whether neural systems have the properties and/or integrity to support such awareness: Schoenle & Witzke 2004). Initial conceptual representations may thus be lost, or may enter into consciousness, be stored in working memory, and/or (assuming an intact hippocampus) come to be stored in long-term memory.
