Negative priming for spatial location?

Examined negative priming for spatial location in 2 studies. Study 1 involved combinations of target, distractor, or both, across prime and probe, being presented once to each S in a negative priming for spatial location procedure. Specifically, stimuli were presented using an oscilloscope controlled by a computer system, and the fixation display appeared immediately after a foot pedal was depressed. After 500 msec, the prime array was added to the fixation display until the S responded (depressing the key corresponding to the location of the target). In the 1st Exp, the procedure was examined across a number of Ss (12 university students; aged 20–30 yrs). In the 2nd Exp, the procedure was tested over repeated sessions with 1 S (university student; aged 23 yrs) on consecutive days. Study 2 verified the results in 13 university students. The findings suggest that negative priming in the spatial location procedure may be more closely related to inhibition of return, or to the automatic attraction of attention by new objects, than to the concepts of distractor inhibition, episodic retrieval, and feature mismatch which have traditionally been used to explain negative priming for spatial location. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taking a bright view of negative priming in the light of dim stimuli: Further evidence for memory confusion during episodic retrieval.

A same–different letter-matching task was used to examine the effects of stimulus intensity on negative priming, which is poorer performance when target letters have been presented as distractor letters on the immediately preceding trial. In Exp 1, with 68 college students, stimulus intensity was manipulated between-participants, whereas in Exp 2, with 32 college students, it varied randomly from trial-to-trial within-participants. In Exp 1, negative priming was equivalent for both stimulus intensities. In Exp 2, negative priming effects were larger for repeated intensity stimuli than for nonrepeated intensity stimuli, when stimulus intensity was dim. Furthermore, for repeated intensity stimuli, negative priming effects were enhanced when the overt response required to the stimulus was repeated from prime to probe trial. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that negative priming may be due to memory confusion, rather than to inhibition of the distractor stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial negative priming without mismatching: Comment on Park and Kanwisher (1994).

In spatial selective attention tasks, response time to locate a target is often longer when the target appears in a location that was recently occupied by an ignored distractor. It has been assumed that this "negative priming" effect occurs because internal representations associated with the distractor are inhibited during selection of the prime display target. In contrast, J. Park and N. Kanwisher (1994) have argued recently that spatial negative priming arises from mismatches between properties of the ignored distractor and subsequent probe target. In this article, 3 separate experiments demonstrate that negative priming can occur when the prime distractor and probe target are identical. Such effects are contrary to Park and Kanwisher's (1994) mismatching account of negative priming but congenial with an object-based inhibition mechanism of selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The locus of inhibition in the priming of static objects: Object token versus location.

The inhibition witnessed in the negative priming effect has been accounted for by positing an object file containing both identity and location information. In the present study, 4 experiments with 31 human Ss replicate the negative priming effect and, using new dual-target conditions where Ss respond to the target first perceived on a 2-target forced-choice probe trial, suggest that location alone could account for the observed inhibition. Exp 1 establishes a reaction time (RT) baseline for the new dual-target conditions, whereas Exps 2 and 3 replicate previously found single-target effects under dual-target conditions. Exp 4 allows a concurrent determination of the inhibition accruing to both the target and distractor. The results are discussed relative to the likely existence of different kinds of inhibition which reveal themselves as a function of task demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kinetics of AMPA-type glutamate receptor channels in rat caudate-putamen neurones show a wide range of desensitization but distinct recovery characteristics

In 5 experiments the authors examine the role of object-based grouping on negative priming. The experiments used a letter-matching task with multiple letters presented in temporally separated prime and probe displays. On mismatch trials, distractor letters in primes were repeated as targets in probes, or distractor and target letters were completely different. Negative priming was shown by slowed responses when distractors were repeated as targets relative to when the stimuli differed. This occurred both when only letters were presented (Experiments 1 and 4) and when letters were surrounded by boxes (Experiment 5). Experiments 2, 3, and 4 showed that negative priming was affected by the grouping of target and distractor letters in prime displays. Negative priming was reduced when 1 of the distractor letters was placed in the target box and 1 was left outside the box; facilitatory priming was observed when both distractor letters appeared in the target box. The data were accounted for in terms of there being (a) object-based competition for visual selection, (b) inhibition of distractor objects that compete for selection with target objects, and (c) activation or inhibition of the identities of all component elements within target or distractor objects.     

Object-based perceptual grouping affects negative priming.

In 5 experiments the authors examine the role of object-based grouping on negative priming. The experiments used a letter-matching task with multiple letters presented in temporally separated prime and probe displays. On mismatch trials, distractor letters in primes were repeated as targets in probes, or distractor and target letters were completely different. Negative priming was shown by slowed responses when distractors were repeated as targets relative to when the stimuli differed. This occurred both when only letters were presented (Experiments 1 and 4) and when letters were surrounded by boxes (Experiment 5). Experiments 2, 3, and 4 showed that negative priming was affected by the grouping of target and distractor letters in prime displays. Negative priming was reduced when 1 of the distractor letters was placed in the target box and 1 was left outside the box; facilitatory priming was observed when both distractor letters appeared in the target box. The data were accounted for in terms of there being (a) object-based competition for visual selection, (b) inhibition of distractor objects that compete for selection with target objects, and (c) activation or inhibition of the identities of all component elements within target or distractor objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An inhibition-based fan effect: Evidence for an active suppression mechanism in selective attention.

Tested an inhibition-based fan effect hypothesis, using a negative priming paradigm in Exps 1 and 2 and a short-term memory scanning paradigm in Exp 3. In Exp 1 (24 undergraduates) and Exp 2 (48 undergraduates), the time to name a letter (surrounded by 1–3 distractor letters) was longer when it had been a distractor on the previous display than in a control condition where the target letter had not been one of the distractors in the previous display. This negative priming effect attenuated as the number of distractors in the previous display increased. The juxtaposition of an irrelevancy with a relevancy heuristic supports the possible existence of a spreading inhibition counterpart of spreading activation. Several predictions based on this framework were confirmed among 3 undergraduates in a modified short-term memory scanning task in Exp 3. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Episodic retrieval in negative priming and repetition priming.

Subjects identified target letters flanked by incompatible distractor letters (e.g., ABA). Distractor onset was randomly simultaneous with target onset or was delayed by 400 ms. In Experiment 1, one third of probe-trial targets were identical to the preceding prime-trial distractor. Responses were slower to repeated letters than to unrepeated letters (negative priming) only when prime and probe trials shared the same distractor-onset conditions. In Experiment 2, one third of probe-trial targets were identical to the preceding prime-trial target. Significant facilitation (repetition priming) occurred for repeated targets in all conditions but was again greater when prime and probe trials shared the same distractor-onset conditions. The results strongly support episodic retrieval theories of both negative priming and repetition priming and suggest that a common mechanism underlies both phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of probe-trial selection on the location negative priming effect.

Using the location variant of the typical negative priming procedure, participants were cued (100% reliable) before (Experiment 1) or after (Experiment 2) the prime trial as to whether a distractor would or would not accompany the target on the probe trial. The crucial results were that on cued trials, the predictable absence of the probe-trial distractor, but not its cued presence, produced the removal of the negative priming effect (disengagement), and that this disengagement of the priming process, motivated by the predictable absence of a probe-trial distractor, could take place on-line. These findings demonstrated the "selection-state" dependency (probe trial) of the location negative priming process, supporting inhibition-based and episodic retrieval models in their contention that the ultimate function of this process is to enhance the efficiency of future distractor processing, and hence selection. The disengagement results revealed an adaptive feature of a process that can be detrimental or irrelevant to upcoming processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acute and critical care in neurology

When subjects select a prime from a visual display while leaving a distractor prime unselected, response time (RT) or response accuracy to a subsequent probe may be impeded if the distractor prime and probe are identical, or if they are related to one another. This phenomenon, negative priming (NP), has obvious implications for understanding perceptual selection. However, it is not known whether NP results from other kinds of selection processes. The present studies were designed to investigate whether NP occurs when primes are selected from working memory rather than from a visual display. In the two experiments, the subjects memorized two primes, selected one prime for further processing, and classified the contents of a probe display. Significant NP occurred in both Experiments. In Experiment 2, however, NP occurred only under easy-selection conditions; the effect was reversed under difficult-selection conditions. The findings indicate a role for NP in memory processing, but contrast with the results from perceptual selection studies showing greater NP under difficult-selection than under easy-selection conditions. The present finding suggests a complex and perhaps strategy-dependent relationship between memory selection difficulty and NP.     

Retrieval of Incidental Stimulus-Response Associations as a Source of Negative Priming.

Priming effects of ignored distractor words were investigated in a task-switching situation that allowed an orthogonal variation of priming and response compatibility between prime and probe. Across 3 experiments, the authors obtained a disordinal interaction of priming and response relation. Responding was delayed in the ignored repetition condition if different responses were required for identical stimuli in the prime and probe (negative priming). Repeating the prime distractor in the probe facilitated responding if the same response was required in the prime and in the probe (positive priming). The same pattern of results was replicated in a letter-matching task without task switching (Experiment 4). Findings lend support to a new model that explains negative priming in terms of an automatic retrieval of incidental stimulus-response associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategy effects counteract distractor inhibition: Negative priming with constantly absent probe distractors.

It is an accepted, albeit puzzling finding that negative priming (NP) hinges on the presence of distractors in probe displays. In three experiments without probe distractors, the authors yielded evidence that response-biasing processes based on the contingency between prime and probe displays may have caused this finding. It is argued that it is of help in standard NP experiments to process the distractor in the prime display in order to prepare the response to the probe target. When this contingency was removed (Experiments 2 and 3), NP was reliably observed without probe distractors, whereas no NP emerged if the design contained the typical contingency (Experiment 1). For this reason, the data suggest that the absence of NP, which is usually observed under these conditions, may be due to a contingency-based component. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fast priming during eye fixations in reading.

Near-threshold primes were "flashed" in a target location prior to the onset of a target word while Ss read. The type and duration of the prime were manipulated. In Exp 1, identical, related, and unrelated primes were presented for 60, 45, or 30 msec from onset of an eye fixation. The prime was then replaced with the target word, which remained in place while Ss finished reading the sentence. Fixation time on the target word was measured. Exp 2 replicated Exp 1, with 2 exceptions: A random letter string replaced the identical prime condition, and prime durations of 39, 30, or 21 msec were used. In both experiments, significant priming effects (related vs unrelated) were obtained when the prime was presented for 30 msec. Results are discussed with regard to subliminal priming effects. Applications to the study of word recognition processes are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Rothermund et al. (2005).

Reports an error in the article "Retrieval of Incidental Stimulus-Response Associations as a Source of Negative Priming" by Rothermund et al. (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol 31(3) May 2005, 482-495). Table 1 (p. 484) was incorrectly typeset. The correct layout is provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2005-05101-007.) Priming effects of ignored distractor words were investigated in a task-switching situation that allowed an orthogonal variation of priming and response compatibility between prime and probe. Across 3 experiments, the authors obtained a disordinal interaction of priming and response relation. Responding was delayed in the ignored repetition condition if different responses were required for identical stimuli in the prime and probe (negative priming). Repeating the prime distractor in the probe facilitated responding if the same response was required in the prime and in the probe (positive priming). The same pattern of results was replicated in a letter-matching task without task switching (Experiment 4). Findings lend support to a new model that explains negative priming in terms of an automatic retrieval of incidental stimulus-response associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Orientation-dependent priming effects in the perception of biological motion.

In a serial 2-choice reaction time (RT) task, Ss discriminated between a biological motion walker and a similar distractor. The point-light walker appeared in 1 of 2 possible in-depth orientations: The figure was walking either to the right or to the left in the sagittal plane. Reliable priming effects were established in consecutive trials but only when priming and primed walkers had the same in-depth orientation. This orientation-dependent priming effect was not tempered when priming and primed figures had different directions of articulatory motion (Exps 1–6), different starting positions in the step cycle (Exp 2), different point-light localizations (Exp 3), or when the figures were translating (Exps 4–6). The data converge with neurophysiological findings that suggest that object recognition is accomplished by accessing high-level, orientation-dependent representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention to orientation, size, luminance, and color: Attentional failure within the form domain.

Whether Ss can attend to physical dimensions of objects without access to semantic information about them was examined. Ss decided which of 2 laterally presented pictures, a target and a distractor, had the same orientation (Exp 1), size (Exp 2), luminance (Exp 3), or color (Exp 4) as a reference picture. In each experiment, the matching stimuli were either physically identical, semantically related, or semantically unrelated. The reference stimulus and the distractor were either semantically related or unrelated. When matching was based on orientation or on size, performance was facilitated when the matching stimuli were semantically related, and it was disrupted when the distractor was semantically related to the reference stimulus. Semantic effects were eliminated when matching was based on luminance or color. The results are discussed in terms of physiological data, form and surface information, and global and local processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic semantic priming: Effect of category exemplar level and word association level.

Evaluated semantic priming when the prime was masked below naming threshold and the target was named in 4 experiments with 263 undergraduates. Exp I showed that when word primes were masked and word targets were named, prior knowledge of the related pairs did not alter semantic priming. Semantic priming within categories occurred only when the prime stimulus was the 1st category exemplar. Findings of Exp II indicate that when masked pictures were used as primes, semantic priming for word targets was sensitive to the category exemplar level of the prime but not to the category exemplar level of the target. Word association norms collected in Exp III did not support the hypothesis that the effect of category exemplar level was mediated by the strength of word association. Exp IV revealed significant semantic priming for masked picture primes and within-category word targets, regardless of the level of word association between prime and target. Exp IV also demonstrated semantic priming for high word association targets that were not members of the same semantic category. For all experiments, Ss with the longest average reaction times (RTs) also showed the largest semantic priming effect for naming word targets. It is suggested that viewing one of the highest ranking category exemplars activates the memory representation of the category, perhaps because such prototypic exemplars are contained within the category concept itself. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation a memory-based account of negative priming: Support for selection-feature mismatch.

Using typical and modified negative priming tasks, the selection-feature mismatch account of negative priming was tested. In the modified task, participants performed selections on the basis of a semantic feature (e.g., referent size). This procedure has been shown to enhance negative priming (P. A. MacDonald, S. Joordens, & K. N. Seergobin, 1999). Across 3 experiments, negative priming occurred only when the repeated item mismatched in terms of the feature used as the basis for selections. When the repeated item was congruent on the selection feature across the prime and probe displays, positive priming arose. This pattern of results appeared in both the ignored- and the attended-repetition conditions. Negative priming does not result from previously ignoring an item. These findings strongly support the selection-feature mismatch account of negative priming and refute both the distractor inhibition and the episodic-retrieval explanations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociative prime–probe contextual similarity effects on negative priming and repetition priming: A challenge to episodic retrieval as a unified account of negative priming.

This study examined the dependence of repetition priming (RP) and negative priming (NP) as a function of prime–probe contextual similarity in a paradigm in which participants were required to respond to a letter flanked by incompatible distractor letters (e.g., ABA). Experiment 1 used prime and probe displays containing a pair of "+" symbols that were presented horizontally or vertically. Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated whether the letter triplets contained the "!" symbol. In all experiments, regardless of whether the RP trials were intermixed with the NP trials (Experiment 2) or not (Experiment 3), RP was stronger in the prime–probe similar conditions than in the prime–probe dissimilar conditions, but NP was independent of prime–probe contextual similarity. These findings suggest that NP is not necessarily stronger in conditions in which episodic retrieval of the prime is more likely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonological priming in auditory word recognition.

Used a priming technique to test specific predictions regarding cohort activation in 3 experiments involving 170 undergraduates. Ss identified target words embedded in noise at different signal-to-noise ratios. The target words were either presented in isolation or preceded by a prime item that shared phonological information with the target. In Exp I, primes and targets were English words that shared 0, 1, 2, 3, or all phonemes from the beginning of the word. In Exp II, nonword primes preceded word targets and shared initial phonemes. In Exp III, word primes and word targets shared phonemes from the end of a word. Reliable phonological priming was observed in all experiments. Results of Exps I and II support the assumption of activation of lexical candidates based on word-initial information, as proposed in cohort theory; however, results of Exp III, which showed increased probability of correctly identifying targets that shared phonemes from the end of words, did not support the predictions derived from the theory. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)