Event-related brain potentials were recorded from healthy young adults during two paradigms calling for recall and recognition of previously presented words. In the first part of the study incidental learning was employed, i.e. the subject was unaware that he participated in a memory test and engaged in a semantic task instead. ERPs from the encoding phase were averaged according to whether a word was 1. subsequently recalled, 2. recognized or 3. neither recalled nor recognized. The intentional paradigm was identical in all respects except for the instructions to remember as many words as possible for subsequent memory testing. No semantic task was employed during intentional encoding. Both paradigms yielded significantly higher positivities for words which were later recalled.