Recognition memory for unfamiliar faces does not differ for adult normal and dyslexic readers: an event-related brain potential study

Objective: Differences in recognition memory for unfamiliar faces between adult developmental dyslexic (n=12) and normal readers (n=12) were studied by means of event-related brain potentials. Methods: Subjects performed a continuous face recognition task, in which 240 unfamiliar faces were presented on a computer screen, 100 of which were repetitions. For each face, subjects had to indicate whether it was presented before or not. Performance did not differ between normal and dyslexic readers. Old/repeated faces elicited more positive event-related potentials (ERPs) starting 250 ms poststimulus. These were analyzed in two time-windows encompassing the early (250–450 ms) and the late phase (450–750 ms) of the old/new effect. Results: No group difference in amplitude or topography of the old/new effect emerged. However, ERPs for all faces were more positive for normal compared with those of dyslexic readers. Conclusions: These results show that a previously described recognition memory deficit for words in dyslexic readers is likely to be specific for verbal material.