APA Dictionary of Psychology

the second positive component of an event-related potential, occurring approximately 200 ms after stimulus onset. An electrophysiological index of attention-related cerebral processing, the P2 component is thought to reflect feature analysis, goal-directed action selection (intention), and other higher order perceptual and motivational processes. It also is involved in a variety of other cognitive activities, including the allocation and modulation of information-processing resources, the evaluation of the emotional significance of stimuli, language processing, and memory (e.g., working memory, recognition). Also called P200.