The main purpose of the present study was to compare these reference-independent visual and auditory old/new effects in schizophrenia patients with those for a carefully-matched sample of healthy adults. A second aim was to clarify polarity, topography, and underlying current generators of distinct ERP components (N1, N2, P3) previously observed during the visual version of this continuous recognition memory task, and examine whether the marked amplitude and asymmetry reductions of early negativities (N1, N2) in schizophrenia would be reproducible in the auditory modality. The final goal was to draw on our previous findings of a distinct mid-frontal sink 45 ms postresponse of presumably anterior cingulate origin, and use this CSD component to explore self-monitoring deficits in schizophrenia during correct responses in a word recognition memory paradigm.
