A study of relative-position priming with superset primes.

Four lexical decision experiments are reported that use the masked priming paradigm to study the role of letter position information in orthographic processing. In Experiments 1 and 2, superset primes, formed by repetition of 1 or 2 letters of the target (e.g., jusstice-JUSTICE) or by insertion of 1 or 2 unrelated letters (e.g., juastice-JUSTICE), generated significant priming compared with unrelated primes and did not differ significantly from an identity priming condition. In Experiment 3, identity primes generated significantly faster responses than subset primes formed by removal of 2 letters from the target (e.g., jutie-JUSTICE), and subset primes generated faster responses than substitution primes formed by substitution of 2 letters of the target with unrelated letters (e.g., jumlice-JUSTICE). In Experiment 4, insertion of 3 unrelated letters continued to generate facilitation relative to unrelated primes but significantly less so than the identity prime condition. The authors discuss the implications of these results for letter-position coding schemes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theories of priming: I. Associative distance and lag.

Automatic associative priming occurs in a large number of memory retrieval tasks, including semantic categorization, lexical decisions, item recognition, naming, and judgments of spatial location. Priming has been commonly attributed to one or the other of 2 alternative mechanisms: spreading activation or construction of compound retrieval cues. This article reports the results of 3 experiments that were designed to test spreading-activation and non-spreading-activation models of priming. The findings were consistent with the spreading-activation models, but inconsistent with the non-spreading-activation models. These results suggest that a rejection of spreading-activation mechanisms is premature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistence of negative priming: II. Evidence for episodic trace retrieval.

Responses to recently ignored stimuli may be slower or less accurate than to new stimuli. This negative priming effect decays over time when delay is randomized within Ss, but not when delay varies between Ss. In Exp 1, response–stimulus intervals (RSI) of 500 and 4,000 msec were randomized within Ss in a target localization task. Negative priming of ignored locations diminished with longer delay. However, no significant decay was obtained when RSI and the preceding RSI were equal. Similar results were obtained when RSI and preceding RSI were deliberately confounded by blocking (Exp 2). Negative priming appears to depend on temporal discriminability of the priming episode. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic priming from letter-searched primes occurs for low- but not high-frequency targets: Automatic semantic access may not be a myth.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 34(1) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2007-19381-019). In the article "Semantic Priming From Letter-Searched Primes Occurs for Low- but Not High- Frequency Targets: Automatic Semantic Access May Not Be a Myth," by Chi-Shing Tse and James H. Neely (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2007, Vol. 33, No. 6, pp. 1143-1161), the URL for the supplemental materials was incomplete. The complete URL is http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.33.6.1143.supp] Letter-search (LS) within a prime often eliminates semantic priming. In 2 lexical decision experiments, the authors found that priming from LS primes occurred for low-frequency (LF) but not high-frequency (HF) targets whether the target's word frequency was manipulated between or within participants and whether the prime-target pairs were associated symmetrically or forward asymmetrically. For the LF targets, LS priming was (a) equivalent for forward asymmetric and symmetric pairs and (b) equal to silent-read (SR) priming for forward asymmetric pairs but less than SR priming for symmetric pairs. The typical finding of greater SR priming for response times for LF than for HF targets occurred for symmetric priming but not for forward asymmetric priming, which showed the interaction for errors. The authors consider their findings' implications for various accounts of how LS affects priming and explain the findings within J. H. Neely and D. E. Keefe's (1989) 3-process model as follows: (a) LS eliminates expectancy and semantic matching but does not reduce semantic activation and (b) expectancy contributes to SR priming for HF targets but not for LF targets, whereas the opposite is so for semantic matching. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spreading activation versus compound cue accounts of priming: Mediated priming revisited.

Spreading activation theories and compound cue theories have both been proposed as accounts of priming phenomena. According to spreading activation theories, the amount of activation that spreads between a prime and a target should be a function of the number of mediating links between the prime and target in a semantic network and the strengths of those links. The amount of activation should determine the amount of facilitation given by a prime to a target in lexical decision. To predict the amount of facilitation, it is necessary to measure the associative links between prime and target in memory. Free-association production probability has been the variable chosen in previous research for this measurement. However, in 3 experiments, the authors show priming effects that free-association production probabilities cannot easily predict. Instead, they argue that the amount of priming depends on the familiarity of the prime and target as a compound, where the compound is formed by the simultaneous presence of the prime and target in short-term memory as a test item. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repetition priming and associative priming of face recognition: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Face recognition can be facilitated by previous presentation both of the same face and of an associated person's face. In Experiment 1, the effects of face repetition and associative priming on event-related potentials (ERPs) were compared. Repetition decreased reaction times (RTs) and modulated both early (180–290 ms) and late ERPs beyond 310 ms. Associative priming caused a topographically equivalent late ERP modulation, although RTs and early ERPs were unaffected. The results suggest that repetition acted on an early processing locus, presumably the activation of face representations. Both repetition and associative priming affected a relatively late locus, probably the activation of person-related semantic information. In Experiment 2, face repetitions were omitted and associative priming effects were observed both in ERPs and RTs. This indicates that ERPs may reflect automatic aspects of associative priming more directly than do RTs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural priming: A critical review.

Repetition is a central phenomenon of behavior, and researchers have made extensive use of it to illuminate psychological functioning. In the language sciences, a ubiquitous form of such repetition is structural priming, a tendency to repeat or better process a current sentence because of its structural similarity to a previously experienced (prime) sentence (J. K. Bock, 1986). The recent explosion of research in structural priming has made it the dominant means of investigating the processes involved in the production (and increasingly, comprehension) of complex expressions such as sentences. This review considers its implications for the representation of syntax and the mechanisms of production and comprehension and their relationship. It then addresses the potential functions of structural priming, before turning to its implications for first language acquisition, bilingualism, and aphasia. The authors close with theoretical and empirical recommendations for future investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consequences of priming: Judgment and behavior.

Two experiments investigated the judgmental and behavioral consequences of priming a social category. In the 1st experiment, using 160 female undergraduates, assimilation and contrast effects of judgment of a target person's hostility obtained following priming with exemplars of, respectively, moderate and extreme levels of the category hostility. The 2nd experiment, using 80 female undergraduates, replicated these findings and, in addition, demonstrated that Ss then behaved consistently with their evaluations of the target person in a social interaction. The results are discussed in terms of the social interaction literature, with category accessibility serving as a means of creating an expectancy for the target's behavior. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanisms of masked priming: A meta-analysis.

The extent to which unconscious information can influence behavior has been a topic of considerable debate throughout the history of psychology. A frequently used method for studying subliminal processing is the masked priming paradigm. The authors focused on studies in which this paradigm was used. Their aim was twofold: first, to assess the magnitude of subliminal priming across the literature and to determine whether subliminal primes are processed semantically, and second, to examine potential moderators of priming effects. The authors found significant priming in their analyses, indicating that unconsciously presented information can influence behavior. Furthermore, priming was observed under circumstances in which a nonsemantic interpretation could not fully explain the effects, suggesting that subliminally presented information can be processed semantically. Nonetheless, the nonsemantic processing of primes is enhanced and priming effects are boosted when the experimental context allows the formation of automatic stimulus–response mappings. This quantitative review also revealed several moderators that influence the strength of priming. (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)     

Lipopolysaccharide primes human alveolar macrophages for enhanced release of superoxide anion and leukotriene B4: self-limitations of the priming response with protein synthesis

Human alveolar macrophages (AM) can produce potent reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) and arachidonic acid metabolites (eicosanoids), which have important roles in host defense and the pathogenesis of some diseases of the lung. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is believed to cause profound lung injury and can prime mouse peritoneal macrophages for the enhanced secretion of ROI and eicosanoids. Therefore, we investigated the effect of LPS pretreatment on the ability of AM to release superoxide anions (O2-) and leukotriene B4 (LTB4). LPS can prime AM for the enhanced secretion of O2- and LTB4, regardless of whether they are derived from nonsmokers or smokers. Moreover, judging from the time-response characteristics, this priming for LTB4 release could be inhibited in the later stages of pretreatment, when the O2(-)-releasing capacity was enhanced. The priming inhibition was prevented, at least in part, by cycloheximide, but not by SOD and/or catalase. In addition, cycloheximide also inhibited the priming for O2- release. Hence, protein synthesis might be necessary for the priming for O2- release and for inhibiting the priming for LTB4 release. This phenomenon of self-limiting the priming response with LPS seems to be very important when we consider the high oxygen tension in the lungs and the many bacterial substances inspired into alveoli.     

Phonological recoding of nonword orthographic rime primes.

The effectiveness of nonword orthographic rime primes as a function of the regularity (as defined by grapheme-phoneme correspondence [GPC] rules) of typical pronunciation was examined in this research. In Experiments 1 and 2, predictions from GPC and orthographic rime unit accounts converged, but in Experiments 3 and 4 they diverged. Experiment 1 showed that when nonword orthographic rimes were used to prime consistent regular words (e.g., mist) and atypically irregular words (e.g., pint), reliable priming was observed for regular words, but priming of atypically irregular words occurred only in the 2nd block of trials, after the orthographic rime prime itself had been primed by the Block 1 presentation of the target word. In subsequent experiments, only the 1st block of trials was examined. Experiment 2 replicated selective priming of consistent regular words observed in Block 1 of Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, nonword orthographic rimes were as effective at priming typically irregular target words (e.g., grind) as they were in priming inconsistent but typically regular target words (e.g., flint)… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic priming: A cognitive neuroscience approach.

Posner and Snyder have proposed that semantic priming involves two processes: Automatic spreading activation and consciously directed attention. According to this view, activation will spread from the node in memory for the prime to nodes for related words. This facilitates response to related words, but does not produce inhibitory effects. Attention, however, is viewed as a slow serial process that produces both facilitation and inhibition effects, but only at a long stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). An alternative model has been developed based on a paper by Walley and Weiden. According to our model, facilitation effects are attributed to spreading activation in a network of neurons. Our model differs from Posner and Snyder's model in that we assume that automatic spreading activation, if strong enough to cause neurons to discharge, will produce inhibitory effects through a mechanism of recurrent lateral inhibition. Consequently, this model predicts that if spreading activation is strong enough, responding to unrelated target words will be inhibited even though attention is not directed to the related target. It is possible that even with strongly related prime-target pairs, spreading activation may not be sufficient to cause neurons to discharge and generate lateral inhibition without some additional facilitation resulting from effort-induced arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of negative priming.

The negative priming task is widely used to investigate attentional inhibition. A critical review of the negative priming literature considers various parameters of the task (e.g., time course, relation to interference, level of occurrence, and susceptibility to changes in task context). It also takes into account life span data and the performance of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. On these bases, the review suggests that negative priming can be produced by 2 mechanisms: memorial and inhibitory. With respect to inhibition, the review suggests that (a) there are 2 systems, one responsible for identity and the other for location information; and (b) inhibition is a flexible, postselection process operating to prevent recently rejected information from quickly regaining access to effectors, thus helping to establish coherence among selected thought and action streams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expecting innovation: Psychoactive drug primes and the generation of creative solutions.

Many individuals expect that alcohol and drug consumption will enhance creativity. The present studies tested whether substance related primes would influence creative performance for individuals who possessed creativity-related substance expectancies. Participants (n = 566) were briefly exposed to stimuli related to psychoactive substances (alcohol, for Study 1, Sample 1, and Study 2; and marijuana, for Study 1, Sample 2) or neutral stimuli. Participants in Study 1 then completed a creative problem-solving task, while participants in Study 2 completed a divergent thinking task or a task unrelated to creative problem solving. The results of Study 1 revealed that exposure to the experimental stimuli enhanced performance on the creative problem-solving task for those who expected the corresponding substance would trigger creative functioning. In a conceptual replication, Study 2 showed that participants exposed to alcohol cues performed better on a divergent thinking task if they expected alcohol to enhance creativity. It is important to note that this same interaction did not influence performance on measures unrelated to creative problem solving, suggesting that the activation of creativity-related expectancies influenced creative performance, specifically. These findings highlight the importance of assessing expectancies when examining pharmacological effects of alcohol and marijuana. Future directions and implications for substance-related interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theories of vigilance.

The inhibition hypothesis of vigilance, derived from the classical conditioning model, has too many weaknesses for an adequate theory. The "attention" hypothesis is too loosely stated to provide an acceptable model of vigilance behavior. Similarly the "expectancy" hypothesis lacks precision, but it has served to stimulate a number of experiments. A physiological model, labeled the activationist hypothesis, has so far only been useful in after-the-fact explanation. This hypothesis does offer some potentially important clues, but there is a need to coordinate the physiological components with the molar concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arousal contributions to affective priming: Electrophysiological correlates.

Current models of affective processing postulate that not only valence but also the arousal dimension characterizes the emotional experience. However, up-to-date research on affective priming has mainly focused on the contributions of valence congruency to priming. In this study, the authors explored the possible influence of arousal in priming processes. For this purpose, event-related potentials and reaction times were measured in response to high- and low-arousing positive targets that were either congruent or incongruent in arousal with a prime word. Priming arousal did not influence reaction times. By contrast, the processing of high-arousing targets was facilitated by a previous exposure to a congruent prime, as reflected by the reduction in the amplitude of a late positive component around 500 ms that has been thought to reflect attentional and memory processes. These results diverge from the findings of previous studies that primed valence and suggest a differential contribution of arousal and valence to affective priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sandwich priming: A method for overcoming the limitations of masked priming by reducing lexical competitor effects.

An orthographically similar masked nonword prime facilitates responding in a lexical decision task (Forster & Davis, 1984). Recently, this masked priming paradigm has been used to evaluate models of orthographic coding—models that attempt to quantify prime-target similarity. One general finding is that priming effects often do not occur when prime-target similarity is moderate, a result that the authors interpret as being due to uncontrolled effects of lexical inhibition. In the present research, a new version of the masked priming paradigm, sandwich priming, was introduced in an effort to minimize the impact of lexical inhibition. Masked sandwich priming involves briefly presenting the target itself prior to the presentation of each prime. Results indicate that the new paradigm was successful. The predicted priming effects were observed for Guerrera and Forster’s (2008) T-All primes (e.g., avacitno–VACATION) and for primes differing from their targets at 3 letter positions (e.g., coshure–CAPTURE)—effects that are not found with the conventional masked priming paradigm. In addition to demonstrating the usefulness of the sandwich priming technique, these results also support the assumption that inhibitory processes play an important role in lexical processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bias in auditory priming.

Priming for previously studied words in an implicit auditory memory task has been interpreted as evidence for a presemantic perceptual representation system that encodes acoustic representations of words (B. A. Church and D. L. Schacter, see record 1994-36069-001). In this article, 3 experiments provided evidence that such priming may result instead from a bias to respond with studied words. In forced-choice identification with similar alternative choices, there was no overall improvement in performance due to prior study. Benefits for studied test words were offset by costs for similar but nonstudied test words. Prior study had no effect when forced-choice alternatives were dissimilar. The data are discussed in relation to current models of auditory information processing and a new model (R. Ratcliff and G. McKoon, in press) for priming in visual word identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)