Perception as evidence accumulation and Bayesian inference: Insights from masked priming.

The authors argue that perception is Bayesian inference based on accumulation of noisy evidence and that, in masked priming, the perceptual system is tricked into treating the prime and the target as a single object. Of the 2 algorithms considered for formalizing how the evidence sampled from a prime and target is combined, only 1 was shown to be consistent with the existing data from the visual word recognition literature. This algorithm was incorporated into the Bayesian Reader model (D. Norris, 2006), and its predictions were confirmed in 3 experiments. The experiments showed that the pattern of masked priming is not a fixed function of the relations between the prime and the target but can be changed radically by changing the task from lexical decision to a same-different judgment. Implications of the Bayesian framework of masked priming for unconscious cognition and visual masking are discussed. (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)     

Phonological mediation in visual masked priming: Evidence from phonotactic repair.

In a series of 4 experiments, the authors show that phonological repair mechanisms, known to operate in the auditory modality, are directly translated in the visual modality. This holds with the provision that printed stimuli are presented for a very brief duration and that the effect of phonological repair is tested after a delay of some 100 ms has elapsed after that presentation. The case of phonological repair chosen to exemplify the parallelism between print and speech is the prosthesis of /e/ in utterances beginning with /s/ followed by a consonant in Spanish. Native speakers of Spanish hear a prothetic /e/ in auditorily presented pseudowords such as special (/speθjal/, derived from especial) as well as stuto (/stuto/, derived from astuto). It is shown here that they also hear that same vowel /e/ when presented with the printed pseudowords special and stuto. This finding of a phonological repair effect in print has implications for the issue of phonological activation from print, as well as for the prelexical locus and mandatory nature of phonological repair mechanisms in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical precision in skilled readers: Individual differences in masked neighbor priming.

Two experiments investigated the relationship between masked form priming and individual differences in reading and spelling proficiency among university students. Experiment 1 assessed neighbor priming for 4-letter word targets from high- and low-density neighborhoods in 97 university students. The overall results replicated previous evidence of facilitatory neighborhood priming only for low-neighborhood words. However, analyses including measures of reading and spelling proficiency as covariates revealed that better spellers showed inhibitory priming for high-neighborhood words, while poorer spellers showed facilitatory priming. Experiment 2, with 123 participants, replicated the finding of stronger inhibitory neighbor priming in better spellers using 5-letter words and distinguished facilitatory and inhibitory components of priming by comparing neighbor primes with ambiguous and unambiguous partial-word primes (e.g., crow#, cr#wd, crown CROWD). The results indicate that spelling ability is selectively associated with inhibitory effects of lexical competition. The implications for theories of visual word recognition and the lexical quality hypothesis of reading skill are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Naming two-digit Arabic numerals: Evidence from masked priming studies.

The authors investigated how 2-digit Arabic numerals are named by looking at the effects of masked primes on the naming latencies. Target numerals were named faster when prime and target shared a digit at the same position (e.g., the target 28 primed by 18 and 21). In contrast, naming latencies were slower when prime and target shared 1 or 2 digits at noncorresponding places (e.g., the target 28 primed by 82, 86, or 72). Subsequent experiments showed that these priming effects were situated at the level of the verbal production of the Arabic numerals. The data point to a nonsemantically mediated route from visual input to verbal output in the naming of 2-digit Arabic numerals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masked inhibitory priming in English: Evidence for lexical inhibition.

Predictions derived from the interactive activation (IA) model were tested in 3 experiments using the masked priming technique in the lexical decision task. Experiment 1 showed a strong effect of prime lexicality: Classifications of target words were facilitated by orthographically related nonword primes (relative to unrelated nonword primes) but were inhibited by orthographically related word primes (relative to unrelated word primes). Experiment 2 confirmed IA's prediction that inhibitory priming effects are greater when the prime and target share a neighbor. Experiment 3 showed a minimal effect of target word neighborhood size (N) on inhibitory priming but a trend toward greater inhibition when nonword foils were high-N than when they were low-N. Simulations of 3 different versions of the IA model showed that the best fit to the data is produced when lexical inhibition is selective and when masking leads to reset of letter activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing for lexical competition during reading: Fast priming with orthographic neighbors.

Recent studies have found that masked word primes that are orthographic neighbors of the target inhibit lexical decision latencies (Davis & Lupker, 2006; Nakayama, Sears, & Lupker, 2008), consistent with the predictions of lexical competition models of visual word identification (e.g., Grainger & Jacobs, 1996). In contrast, using the fast priming paradigm (Sereno & Rayner, 1992), orthographically similar primes produced facilitation in a reading task (H. Lee, Rayner, & Pollatsek, 1999; Y. Lee, Binder, Kim, Pollatsek, & Rayner, 1999). Experiment 1 replicated this facilitation effect using orthographic neighbor primes. In Experiment 2, neighbor primes and targets were presented in different cases (e.g., SIDE–tide); in this situation, the facilitation effect disappeared. However, nonword neighbor primes (e.g., KIDE–tide) still significantly facilitated reading of targets (Experiment 3). Taken together, these results suggest that it is possible to explain the priming effects from word neighbor primes in fast priming experiments in terms of the interactions between the inhibitory and facilitory processes embodied in lexical competition models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tight coupling between positive and reversed priming in the masked prime paradigm.

When associations between certain visual stimuli and particular actions are learned, those stimuli become capable of automatically and unconsciously activating their associated action plans. Such sensorimotor priming is assumed to be fundamental for efficient responses, and can be reliably measured in masked prime studies even when the primes are not consciously perceived. However, when the delay between prime and target is increased, reversed priming effects are often found instead (the negative compatibility effect, NCE). The main accounts of the NCE assume that it too is a sensorimotor phenomenon, predicting that it should occur only when the initial positive priming phase also occurs. Alternatively, reversed priming may reflect a perceptual process entirely independent from positive motor priming (which is simply evident at a different temporal delay), in which case no dependency is expected between the NCE and positive priming. We tested these predictions while new sensorimotor associations were learned, and found a remarkable symmetry between positive and reversed priming during all such learning phases, supporting the idea that reversed priming is a sensorimotor process that automatically follows the positive priming phase. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masked priming with orthographic neighbors: A test of the lexical competition assumption.

In models of visual word identification that incorporate inhibitory competition among activated lexical units, a word's higher frequency neighbors will be the word's strongest competitors. Preactivation of these neighbors by a prime is predicted to delay the word's identification. Using the masked priming paradigm (K. I. Forster & C. Davis, 1984, J. Segui and J. Grainger (1990) reported that, consistent with this prediction, a higher frequency neighbor prime delayed the responses to a lower frequency target, whereas a lower frequency neighbor prime did not delay the responses to a higher frequency target. In the present experiments, using English stimuli, it was found that this pattern held only when the primes and targets had few neighbors; when the primes and targets had many neighbors, lower frequency primes delayed responses to higher frequency targets essentially as much as higher frequency primes delayed responses to lower frequency targets. Several possible explanations for these findings are discussed along with their theoretical implications. Considered together, the results are most consistent with activation-based accounts of the masked priming effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masked priming effects with syllabic neighbors in a lexical decision task.

Four lexical decision experiments using a masked priming paradigm were conducted to analyze whether the previous presentation of a syllabic neighbor (a word sharing the same 1st syllable) influences recognition performance. The results showed an inhibitory effect of more frequent syllabic primes and some facilitation of nonword syllabic primes (Experiments 1-3). When monosyllabic pairs were used (Experiment 3), no priming effects of the 2 initial letters were found. Finally, when using only syllables as primes, latencies to words were shorter when preceded by primes that corresponded to the 1st syllable than by primes that contained 1 letter more or less than the lst syllable (Experiment 4). Results are interpreted using activation models that take into account a syllabic level of representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociating local and global levels of perceptuo-motor control in masked priming.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 33(3) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (see record 2007-07213-006). Figure 5 was inadvertently duplicated in the production process and was incorrectly substituted in place of the original Figure 6 submitted by the authors. The correct figure and caption that should have appeared for Figure 6 are listed in the erratum.] Masked prime stimuli presented near the threshold of conscious awareness affect responses to subsequent targets. The direction of these priming effects depends on the interval between masked prime and target. With short intervals, benefits for compatible trials (primes and targets mapped to the same response) and costs for incompatible trials are observed. This pattern reverses with longer intervals. We argue (a) that these effects reflect the initial activation and subsequent self-inhibition of the primed response, and the corresponding inhibition and subsequent disinhibition of the nonprimed response, and (b) that they are generated at dissociable local (within response channels) and global (between channels) levels of motor control. In two experiments, global-level priming effects were modulated by changing the number of response alternatives, whereas local-level effects remained unaffected. These experiments suggest that low-level motor control mechanisms can be successfully decomposed into separable subcomponents, operating at different levels within the motor system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Updating a cautionary tale of masked priming: Reply to Klapp (2005).

The commentary by S. T. Klapp (see record 2005-09704-010) on our recent article (A. Lleras & J. T. Enns, [see record 2004-21166-001]) proposes that the empirical finding of negative compatibility in masked priming be attributed to 2 distinct theoretical constructs: (a) perceptual priming through object updating, as described in our article, and (b) nonperceptual priming based on inhibited unconscious response tendencies. The authors argue that this 2nd construct is not supported by either the new data the authors report or the extant literature. Instead, the negative compatibility effect in masked priming is influenced by perceptual interactions among stimuli that appear in the same spatial location, and the authors believe it is this process that deserves further systematic study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Syllabic priming in lexical decision and naming tasks: The syllable congruency effect re-examined in French.

This study investigated the role of the syllable in visual recognition of French words. The syllable congruency procedure was combined with masked priming in the lexical-decision task (Experiments 1 and 3) and the naming task (Experiment 2). Target words were preceded by a nonword prime sharing the first three letters that either corresponded to the syllable (congruent condition), or not (incongruent condition). When primes were displayed for 67 ms, similar results were found in both the lexical decision and the naming tasks. Consonant-vowel targets such as BA.LANCE were recognised more rapidly in the congruent condition than in the incongruent and control conditions, while consonant-vowel-consonant targets such as BAL.CON were recognised more rapidly in the congruent and incongruent conditions than in the control condition. When a 43-ms SOA was used in the lexical-decision task, no significant priming effect was obtained. The results are discussed in an interactive-activation model incorporating syllable units. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incidental learning of S-R contingencies in the masked prime task.

Subliminal motor priming effects in the masked prime paradigm can only be obtained when primes are part of the task set. In 2 experiments, the authors investigated whether the relevant task set feature needs to be explicitly instructed or could be extracted automatically in an incidental learning paradigm. Primes and targets were symmetrical arrows, with target color, not shape, the response-relevant feature. Shape and color covaried for targets (e.g., always blue, >     

Dynamic adaptation to history of trial difficulty explains the effect of congruency proportion on masked priming.

In reaction time research, there has been an increasing appreciation that response-initiation processes are sensitive to recent experience and, in particular, the difficulty of previous trials. From this perspective, the authors propose an explanation for a perplexing property of masked priming: Although primes are not consciously identified, facilitation of target processing by a related prime is magnified in a block containing a high proportion of related primes and a low proportion of unrelated primes relative to a block containing the opposite mix (Bodner & Masson, 2001). In the present study, this phenomenon is explored with a parity (even/odd) decision task in which a prime (e.g., 2) precedes a target that can be either congruent (e.g., 4) or incongruent (e.g., 3). It is shown that the effect of congruence proportion with masked primes cannot be explained in terms of the blockwise prime–target contingency. Specifically, with masked primes, there is no congruency disadvantage in a block containing a high proportion of incongruent primes, but there is a congruency advantage when the block contains an equal proportion of congruent and incongruent primes. In qualitative contrast, visible primes are sensitive to the blockwise prime–target contingency. The authors explain the relatedness proportion effect found with masked primes in terms of a model according to which response-initiation processes adapt to the statistical structure of the environment, specifically the difficulty of recent trials. This account is supported with an analysis at the level of individual trials using the linear mixed effects model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative position priming effect depends on whether letters are vowels or consonants.

The relative position priming effect is a type of subset priming in which target word recognition is facilitated as a consequence of priming the word with some of its letters, maintaining their relative position (e.g., csn as a prime for casino). Five experiments were conducted to test whether vowel-only and consonant-only subset primes contribute equally to this effect. Experiment 1 revealed that this subset priming effect emerged when primes were composed exclusively of consonants, compared with vowel-only primes (csn-casino vs. aia-animal). Experiment 2 tested the impact of letter frequency in this asymmetry. Subset priming effects were obtained for both high- and low-frequency consonants but not for vowels, which rules out a letter frequency explanation. Experiment 3 tested the role of phonology and its contribution to the priming effects observed, by decreasing the prime duration. The results showed virtually the same effects as in the previous experiments. Finally, Experiments 4 and 5 explored the influence of repeated letters in the primes on the magnitude of the priming effects obtained for consonant and vowel subset primes (iuo-dibujo and aea-madera vs. mgn-imagen and rtr-frutero). Again, the results confirmed the priming asymmetry. We propose that a functional distinction between consonants and vowels, mainly based on the lexical constraints imposed by each of these types of letters, might provide an explanation for the whole set of results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discrepancies between orthographic and unrelated baselines in masked priming undermine a decompositional account of morphological facilitation.

This study uses the masked priming procedure to compare the decompositionality of regular with irregular English past tense forms relative to both an unrelated baseline and a baseline matched on orthographic similarity to the morphological prime. Morphological facilitation varies with the degree of similarity between related primes and targets. Discrepancies between unrelated and orthographic baselines arise when prime and target match in length and form overlap is high. The outcome demonstrates the key role of baselines in assessments of morphological facilitation and highlights problems of interpretation when evidence of morphological decomposition depends on meeting a statistical criterion for significant morphological facilitation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masked Repetition and Phonological Priming Within and Across Modalities.

Lexical decision latencies to word targets presented either visually or auditorily were faster when directly preceded by a briefly presented (53-ms) pattern-masked visual prime that was the same word as the target (repetition primes), compared with different word primes. Primes that were pseudohomophones of target words did not significantly influence target processing compared with unrelated primes (Experiments 1-2) but did produce robust priming effects with slightly longer prime exposures (67 ms) in Experiment 3. Like repetition priming, these pseudohomophone priming effects did not interact with target modality. Experiments 4 and 5 replicated this general pattern of effects while introducing a different measure of prime visibility and an orthographic priming condition. Results are interpreted within the framework of a bimodal interactive activation model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masked repetition priming and proportion effects under cognitive load.

The authors used a cognitive load manipulation (rehearsing a string of digits during the trial) to test the automaticity of (a) masked repetition priming and (b) the masked repetition proportion (RP) effect (i.e., greater priming when the proportion of repetition-prime trials is higher) in the lexical decision task. The RP (.2 vs. .8) was varied across blocks. Masked priming was not reduced under load compared with a no-load group. Surprisingly, only the load group showed an RP effect in response latencies, although the no-load group showed an RP effect in the error rates. Our results show that masked priming is automatic, yet the influence of masked primes can nonetheless be adjusted at an unconscious level. Implications for accounts of masked priming are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)