Associative priming in a masked perceptual identification task: Evidence for automatic processes

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 1157-1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Pecher ◽  
René Zeelenberg ◽  
Jeroen G. W. Raaijmakers
Keyword(s):  
Priming Effect ◽  
Perceptual Identification ◽  
Automatic Processes ◽  
Associative Priming ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Strategic Processes ◽  
Presentation Time ◽  
Mediated Priming ◽  
Prime Target

Two experiments investigated the influence of automatic and strategic processes on associative priming effects in a perceptual identification task in which prime-target pairs are briefly presented and masked. In this paradigm, priming is defined as a higher percentage of correctly identified targets for related pairs than for unrelated pairs. In Experiment 1, priming was obtained for mediated word pairs. This mediated priming effect was affected neither by the presence of direct associations nor by the presentation time of the primes, indicating that automatic priming effects play a role in perceptual identification. Experiment 2 showed that the priming effect was not affected by the proportion (.90 vs..10) of related pairs if primes were presented briefly to prevent their identification. However, a large proportion effect was found when primes were presented for 1000 ms so that they were clearly visible. These results indicate that priming in a masked perceptual identification task is the result of automatic processes and is not affected by strategies. The present paradigm provides a valuable alternative to more commonly used tasks such as lexical decision.

Combining the Post-Cue Task and the Perceptual Identification Task to Assess Parallel Activation and Mutual Facilitation of Related Primes and Targets

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Demian Scherer ◽  
Dirk Wentura
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
The Other ◽  
Perceptual Identification ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Parallel Activation ◽  
Prime Target

Abstract. Recent theories assume a mutual facilitation in case of semantic overlap for concepts being activated simultaneously. We provide evidence for this claim using a semantic priming paradigm. To test for mutual facilitation of related concepts, a perceptual identification task was employed, presenting prime-target pairs briefly and masked, with an SOA of 0 ms (i.e., prime and target were presented concurrently, one above the other). Participants were instructed to identify the target. In Experiment 1, a cue defining the target was presented at stimulus onset, whereas in Experiment 2 the cue was not presented before the offset of stimuli. Accordingly, in Experiment 2, a post-cue task was merged with the perceptual identification task. We obtained significant semantic priming effects in both experiments. This result is compatible with the view that two concepts can both be activated in parallel and can mutually facilitate each other if they are related.

Attentional Modulation of Unconscious “Automatic” Processes: Evidence from Event-related Potentials in a Masked Priming Paradigm

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Kiefer ◽  
Doreen Brendel
Keyword(s):  
Priming Effect ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Automatic Processes ◽  
Temporal Attention ◽  
Attentional Modulation ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Related Potentials

Automatic processes are usually thought to occur independently of any cognitive resources. This traditional view has been recently challenged by showing that temporal attention to a target stimulus is a prerequisite for “automatic” response priming. The event-related potential (ERP) study reported here extends this research by pursuing a somewhat different approach. In two experiments, it was investigated whether masked semantic priming effects can be modulated by temporal attention to the prime using a cueing procedure. We hypothesized that masked priming is amplified when attention is directed to the stimulus stream in the time window of masked prime presentation, even in the absence of any prime awareness. ERPs were recorded while subjects performed a primed lexical decision task. Target words were preceded by semantically related or unrelated masked prime words, which were not consciously identified. A cue stimulus prompted subjects to direct their attention to the stimulus stream either shortly before the masked prime (short cue interval) or a long time interval before. Priming affected the amplitude of the N400 ERP component, an electrophysiological index of semantic processing. Unrelated prime–target pairs elicited a larger N400 than related pairs (N400 priming effect). Most importantly, this masked N400 priming effect was strongest when the cue interval and the stimulus onset asynchronies were short. The present results show that temporal attention to the prime is a prerequisite for obtaining masked N400 priming effects. They also demonstrate that unconscious automatic processes are susceptible to attentional modulation.

Long-term melodic expectation: The unexpected observation of distant priming effects

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freya Bailes ◽  
Charles Delbé
Keyword(s):  
Priming Effect ◽  
Control Experiment ◽  
Mental Image ◽  
Statistical Analyses ◽  
Target Sequence ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Final Note

The report provides a brief account of an experiment whose control conditions produced interestingly counter-intuitive results. The method adapted priming techniques to explore whether imagining well-known melodies would facilitate perceptual discrimination of congruent compared to incongruent melodic continuations in a syllable identification task. This was shown to be the case, but in a subsequent control experiment, imagining an irrelevant lure melody also showed a priming effect. The persistent priming effect apparently related the target sequence to the aurally presented, nonadjacent opening notes, and not to the intervening mental image. A number of statistical analyses of the pitch relationships in match and mismatch targets were performed and a further experiment is reported in which participants explicitly selected between match and mismatch versions of the stimuli for fit within the prime context. It seems that the pitch proximity of the first target note to the final note of the sounded prime may be responsible for the priming effect. An outline of further research to explain the phenomenon is suggested, including experiments to test the strength of melodic priming governed by pitch proximity, by systematically varying the length of the period between prime and target.

Normal perceptual priming of orthographically illegal nonwords in amnesia

1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 425-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret M. Keane ◽  
John D.E. Gabrieli ◽  
Julia S. Noland ◽  
Susan Ingemanson McNealy
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Identification Accuracy ◽  
Perceptual Identification ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Perceptual Priming ◽  
Recognition Memory Performance ◽  
Global Amnesia

AbstractThis study examined priming in perceptual identification of orthographically illegal nonwords in control subjects and patients with global amnesia. Subjects studied a list of orthographically illegal nonwords and then performed a perceptual identification task in which half of the stimuli were from the prior study list and half were new (unstudied) stimuli. Priming was reflected in enhanced identification accuracy of studied compared to unstudied nonwords. Amnesic patients showed significant and normal priming despite impaired recognition memory performance. Because the experimental stimuli were dissimilar to real words in terms of orthography and phonology, it is unlikely that this priming effect was mediated by activation of pre-existing representations of orthographically or phonologically similar words, morphemes, or syllables. These results demonstrate that intact perceptual priming in amnesia is not limited to stimuli that are premorbidly represented in long-term knowledge, nor to novel stimuli that conform to the rules that characterize familiar items. Further, because the experimental stimuli comprised novel letter assemblies, the results suggest that amnesic patients can show normal priming for new perceptual associations. These findings demonstrate that processes spared in amnesia can support the creation and subsequent retrieval of novel stimulus representations. (JINS, 1995, I, 425–433.)

Accessing Semantic Person Knowledge: Temporal Dynamics of Nonstrategic Categorical and Associative Priming

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Wiese ◽  
Stefan R. Schweinberger
Keyword(s):  
Priming Effect ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Associative Priming ◽  
Target Condition ◽  
Occupational Information ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fast Spreading ◽  
Prime Target

Recent theories of semantic memory suggest a subdivision into several separate domains of knowledge. The present study examined the structure of semantic person knowledge by analyzing both behavioral and ERP correlates of associative priming (via co-occurrence and/or shared semantic information) versus purely categorical priming (via shared occupational information). Participants performed familiarity decisions for target faces, which were preceded by sandwich-masked prime names at either short (33 msec) or long (1033 msec) SOAs. Although masking effectively prevented explicit prime recognition, faster RTs were generally observed for both associative and categorical priming (relative to an unrelated prime-target condition). At the short SOA, both associatively and categorically primed targets similarly elicited more positive going ERPs compared with unrelated targets in the N400 time range (N400 priming effect), suggesting a common initial mechanism mediating both forms of priming. By contrast, at the long SOA, a typical N400 priming effect was observed for associative priming only, whereas the corresponding effect for categorical priming was small and restricted to a left parietal site. This hitherto unreported interaction of relatedness, and SOA in the N400 suggests an initial fast spreading of activation to a wide range of related targets, which subsequently focuses to more closely related people at longer SOAs. This ability of ERPs to trace the neural dynamics of activation for different forms of prime/target relatedness can be exploited for testing different models of semantic priming.

scholarly journals The (un)reliability of item-level semantic priming effects

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Heyman ◽  
Anke Bruninx ◽  
Keith Hutchison ◽  
Gert Storms
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Associative Strength ◽  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Large Sample Size ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Reliability Estimates ◽  
Item Level ◽  
Prime Target

Many researchers have tried to predict semantic priming effects using a myriad of variables (e.g., prime–target associative strength or co-occurrence frequency). The idea is that relatedness varies across prime–target pairs, which should be reflected in the size of the priming effect (e.g., cat should prime dog more than animal does). However, it is only insightful to predict item-level priming effects if they can be measured reliably. Thus, in the present study we examined the split-half and test–retest reliabilities of item-level priming effects under conditions that should discourage the use of strategies. The resulting priming effects proved extremely unreliable, and reanalyses of three published priming datasets revealed similar cases of low reliability. These results imply that previous attempts to predict semantic priming were unlikely to be successful. However, one study with an unusually large sample size yielded more favorable reliability estimates, suggesting that big data, in terms of items and participants, should be the future for semantic priming research.

Masked priming with graphemically related forms: Repetition or partial activation?

1987 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. I. Forster ◽  
C. Davis ◽  
C. Schoknecht ◽  
R. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Priming Effect ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Activation Model ◽  
Activation Effect ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Partial Activation ◽  
Activation Theory ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Prime Target

Form-priming occurs when a prime that is graphemically similar to the target word facilitates processing of the target. In an activation model (such as Morton's logogen model), such an effect can be interpreted as a partial-activation effect. A prime that shares letters with the target must inevitably produce activation in the detectors for both the prime and the target. Alternatively, form-priming could be seen as a special case of repetition-priming, in which the prime actually accesses the entry for the target. It is shown that masked-priming effects in the lexical decision task can be obtained for graphemically related pairs such as bontrast-CONTRAST, but not for four-letter pairs such as bamp-CAMP. It is suggested that the priming effect is controlled by neighbourhood density, short words usually having many neighbours, long words having very few. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that form-priming does occur for four-letter words if the prime and target are drawn from low-density neighbourhoods. For a partial-activation theory, an inhibitory mechanism that is sensitive to the number of prime-neighbours is required to explain the results. Of the several versions of a repetition account considered, the “best match” hypothesis appears to be the most promising: this assumes that priming is limited to the stimulus that best matches the prime. It is also shown that prime-target pairs that are related in form and meaning (e.g. made-MAKE) produce the same priming effect as identical pairs, as predicted by a repetition account that assumes a common entry underlying both forms.

scholarly journals Evaluative Priming in the Pronunciation Task

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Christoph Klauer ◽  
Manuel Becker ◽  
Adriaan Spruyt
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Evaluative Priming ◽  
Data Reproducibility ◽  
Prime Target ◽  
Target Words

Abstract. We replicated and extended a study by Spruyt and Hermans (2008) in which picture primes engendered an evaluative-priming effect on the pronunciation of target words. As preliminary steps, we assessed data reproducibility of the original study, conducted Pilot Study I to identify highly semantically related prime-target pairs, reanalyzed the original data excluding such pairs, conducted Pilot Study II to demonstrate that we can replicate traditional associative priming effects in the pronunciation task, and conducted Pilot Study III to generate relatively unrelated sets of prime pictures and target words. The main study comprised three between-participants conditions: (1) a close replication of the original study, (2) the same condition excluding highly related prime-target pairs, and (3) a condition based on the relatively unrelated sets of prime pictures and target words developed in Pilot Study III. There was little evidence for an evaluative priming effect independent of semantic relatedness.

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