Illustration of Sternberg Item Recognition Paradigm (SIRP). Each block started with presentation of the memorized set, which consisted of 1, 3, 5, or 7 letters. Then, single letters were presented in succession. Subjects' task was to press ‘1' on the keypad if the letter was a foil (not a letter in the memorized set), and to press ‘2' if it was a target. Subjects completed three 7-min runs in the scanner, each of which consisted of 112 trials.