The Time-Course of Masked Negative Priming
Abstract
Negative priming (NP) refers to the finding that reaction times and errors increase when a previously ignored prime distractor is presented as a target. In a variant of this task, the prime display is composed of only a single masked distractor that is followed by the simultaneous presentation of a target and a distractor in the probe display. In one experiment, we explore the time-course of masked NP using different variations of the prime-probe interval (short, medium, and long), and compare the results with time-course investigations of unmasked NP. We found clear evidence for a rapid-decay function of masked NP: With an increase in the prime-probe interval, masked NP decreased. This result is in line with the predictions of the temporal discrimination account and retrieval accounts of NP.
References
1993). Visual attention and objects: Evidence for hierarchical coding of location. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 19, 451–470.
(2001). Negative priming for spatial location? Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55, 24–38.
(1999). The time-course of negative priming: Little evidence for episodic retrieval. Memory & Cognition, 27, 575–583.
(1995). Negative priming from ignored distractors in visual selection: A review. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2, 145–173.
(2005). Negative priming with masked distractor-only prime trials: Awareness moderates negative priming. Experimental Psychology, 52, 131–139.
(2006). Negative priming is stronger for task relevant dimensions: Evidence of flexibility in selective ignoring of distractor information. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 683–693.
(2007). On distractor repetition benefits in the negative-priming paradigm. Visual Cognition, 15, 166–178.
(1991). Age and inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 163–169.
(1996). On the time-course of negative priming: Another look. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3, 231–237.
(2003). Attending to the distractor and old/new discriminations in negative priming. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 56, 421–443.
(1994). A model of inhibitory mechanisms in selective attention. In , Inhibitory processes in attention, memory, and language (pp. 53–112). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
(1995). Determinants of negative priming. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 35–54.
(2006). Evidence for episodic retrieval of inadequate prime responses in auditory negative priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Performance and Perception, 32, 932–943.
(1998). Selective attention: A reevaluation of the implications of negative priming. Psychological Review, 105, 203–229.
(1997). Negative priming, attention, and discriminating the present from the past. Invited Submission to Consciousness and Cognition, 6, 308–327.
(1999). Response conflict reverses priming: A replication. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6, 304–308.
(1992). Persistence of negative priming: Steady state or decay? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18, 565–576.
(1992). Persistence of negative priming: II. Evidence for episodic trace retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18, 993–1000.
(1987). Selective attention and the suppression of cognitive noise. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 327–334.
(1985). MANOVA method for analyzing repeated measures designs: An extensive primer. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 316–333.
(1994). Negative priming for spatial locations: Identity matching, not distractor inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 613–623.
(2005). Retrieval of incidental stimulus-response associations as a source of negative priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 482–495.
(1985). The negative priming effect: Inhibitory priming by ignored objects. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37A, 571–590.
(2001). Does negative priming reflect inhibitory mechanisms? A review and integration of conflicting ways. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54A, 321–343.
(1991). Inhibitory mechanisms of attention in identification and localization tasks: Time-course and disruption. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 681–692.
(1977). Exploratory data analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
(2005). Repeated masked category primes interfere with related exemplars: New evidence for negative semantic priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 108–120.
(