This study compared the difference in information processing of “character” and “tooth” by comparing 20 beginners（novices）who had acquired textbook knowledge about tooth forms and 20 intermediate students（advanced）who had also acquired empirical knowledge, using event-related potentials（ERP）. The subjects were presented with a schematic diagram of “character” and “tooth” at a ratio of 2：8 according to the oddball task, and were instructed to press the button only when the target stimulus was presented. In the analysis, the ERP waveforms were averaged to obtain the averaged waveform, and principal component analysis was performed. As a result, in the information processing process of “character”, the ratio of the components of “N2b”, “P3a”, and “P3b＋SW composite” was the same for both advanced and novice subjects. In the information processing process of “tooth”, the ratio of “P3a” and “P3b” was large for both, and the same tendency was observed. However, the advanced subjects were divided into “N2b＋MMN composite”, “P3a” and “P3b”, and the difference in information processing process from the novices became clear. From the above, the “character” task was processed in the same way, but in the “tooth” task, advanced subjects who had acquired empirical knowledge seemed to recognize patterns earlier and to perform efficient processing.
