Abstract: Recognition potential is an electrical response of the brain peaking around 200 to 250ms after stimulus onset and obtained when subjects view recognizable stimuli (e.g. words, pictures). The study of the RP is still under theoretical discussion. There are two views of the RP on what cognitive process it reflects. One view held the processing of visual information; the alternative one emphasized semantic or conceptual process. However, they have not reached an agreement yet. Recently, in order to compensate for the inadequacies of two views, researchers proposed that RP might reflect a processing of categorical features, which theoretically meets cognitive economy rules and has its own advantages. However, new hypotheses need to be further investigated. Great efforts should be made to RP research in terms of varies of materials, combination with other methods, learning mechanism of categorical feature processing.

Key words: recognition potential, visual information processing, semantic processing, categorical feature processing