Electrophysiological decomposition of attentional factors on the hypercorrection effect of false lexical representations

•The hypercorrection effect of high confidence memory errors was replicated in a lexical learning task.•The hypercorrection effect was modulated by level of perceived practical value for items.•Both automatic and voluntary allocations of attention had an influence on the hypercorrection effect.•Those attentional factors could be decomposed using event-related potentials (P3a/novelty P3 and P3b). False memories endorsed with higher confidence are more likely to be corrected by feedback than those endorsed with lower confidence (hypercorrection effect). Errors made with high confidence and correct responses made with low confidence are both associated with large meta-memory mismatches. Therefore, they both represent a type of unexpected event which automatically captures participant attention, such that correct information provided via feedback is well-encoded. On the other hand, a study that measured participants’ perceived practical value for items suggested that voluntary allocation of attention might involve the hypercorrection effect. The present study involved a lexical learning task with 28 undergraduate student participants and measurement of automatic and voluntary attentional allocations via P3a/novelty P3 and P3b respectively, both of which are event-related potentials (ERPs). Behavioral results replicated the hypercorrection effect in a lexical learning task and showed modulation of the effect with regard to perceived practical value. In addition, ERP measurement results demonstrated that both automatic and voluntary allocations of attentional resources were independently involved in the hypercorrection phenomenon.