Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Original Communication

The Role of Decision Biases in Semantic Priming Effects

Published Online:September 01, 2006https://doi.org/10.1024/1421-0185.64.4.249

Abstract

At least a part of semantic priming effects observed in binary decision tasks is supposed to be caused by decision biases. A semantic relationship between prime and target could positively bias a “yes” response, whereas the absence of a relationship would instead favour a “no” response to the same target. We tested this assumption with a semantic categorization task in which participants were induced to associate different values - positive, negative, or neutral - to each of the categorization decisions. Although semantic priming effects were obtained even with negatively valued decisions, they were substantially enhanced with positively valued decisions, confirming the influence of a decision bias induced presumptively by a post-lexical relatedness judgement.

References

  • deGroot, A. M. B. (1984). Primed lexical decision: Combined effects of the proportion of related prime-target pairs and the stimulus-onset asynchrony of prime and target. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 36A, 253– 280 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • deGroot, A. M. B. (1985). Word-context effects in word naming and lexical decision. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37A, 281– 297 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • deGroot, A. M. B. , Thomassen, A. J. W. M. , Hudson, P. T. (1982). Associative facilitation of word recognition as measured from a neutral prime. Memory and Cognition, 104, 358– 370 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Duscherer, K. (2001). Irrépressibilité du traitement sémantique et affectif: Rôle de la conscience dans la détermination des effets d'amorçage et d'interférence [Irrepressibility of semantic and affective processing: The role of consciousness in priming and interference effects]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hampton, J. A. , Taylor, P. J. (1985). Effects of semantic relatedness on same-different decisions in a good-bad categorization task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 11, 85– 93 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Holender, D. (1992). Expectancy effects, congruity effects, and the interpretation of response latency measurement. In J. Alegria, D. Holender, J. Junca de Morais, & M. Radeau (Eds.), Analytic approaches to human cognition. Amsterdam: North Holland First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Kahan, T. A. , Neely, J. H. , Forsythe, W. J. (1999). Dissociated backward priming effects in lexical decision and pronunciation task. Psychological Bulletin and Review, 6, 105– 110 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Koriat, A. (1981). Semantic facilitation in lexical decision as a function of prime-target association. Memory and Cognition, 9, 587– 598 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Landauer, T. K. , Freedman, J. L. (1968). Information retrieval from long-term memory: Category size and recognition time. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 7, 291– 295 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Lorch, R. F. , Balota, D. A. , Stamm, E. G. (1986). Locus of inhibition effects in the priming of lexical decisions: Pre- or postlexical access?. Memory and Cognition, 14, 95– 103 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Lupker, S. J. (1984). Semantic priming without association: A second look. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 709– 733 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • McNamara, T. P. , Altarriba, J. (1988). Depth of spreading activation revisited: Semantic mediated priming occurs in lexical decisions. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, 545– 559 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • McRae, K. , deSa, V. R. , Seidenberg, M. S. (1997). On the nature and scope of featural representations of word meaning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 126, 99– 130 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Neely, J. H. (1991). Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: A selective review of current findings and theories. In D. Besner & G. W. Humphreys (Eds.), Basic processes in reading: Visual word recognition (pp. 264-336). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Neely, J. H. , Keefe, D. E. (1989). Semantic context effects on visual word processing: A hybrid prospective-retrospective processing theory. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 24, 207– 247 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Neely, J. H. , Keefe, D. E. , Ross, K. L. (1989). Semantic priming in the lexical decision task: Roles of prospective prime-generated expectancies and retrospective semantic matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 1003– 1019 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schaeffer, B. , Wallace, R. (1969). Semantic similarity and the comparison of word meanings. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 82, 343– 346 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schaeffer, B. , Wallace, R. (1970). The comparison of word meanings. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 86, 144– 152 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schneider, W. (1988). Micro Experimental Laboratory: An integrated system for IBM PC compatibles. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 20, 206– 217 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schvaneveldt, R. W. , Durso, F. T. , Mukherij, B. R. (1982). Semantic distance effects in categorization tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 8, 1– 15 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Seidenberg, M. S. , Waters, G. S. , Sanders, M. , Langer, P. (1984). Pre- and postlexical loci of contextual effects on word recognition. Memory and Cognition, 12, 315– 328 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Sereno, J. A. (1991). Graphemic, associative, and syntactic priming effects at a brief stimulus onset asynchrony in lexical decision and naming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 459– 477 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Shelton, J. R. , Martin, R. C (1992). How semantic is automatic semantic priming?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18, 1191– 1210 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Stanovich, K. E. , West, R. F. (1983). On priming by a sentence context. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 112, 1– 36 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Wentura, D. (1998). Affektives Priming in der Wortentscheidungsaufgabe: Evidenz für postlexikalische Urteilstendenzen [Affective priming in the lexical decision task: Evidence for postlexical judgment biases]. Sprache und Kognition, 17, 125– 137 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Wentura, D. (2000). Dissociative affective and associative priming effects in the lexical decision task: Yes versus No responses to word targets reveal evaluative judgement tendencies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 456– 469 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • West, R. F. , Stanovich, K. E. (1982). Source of inhibition in experiments on the effect of sentence context on word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 8, 385– 399 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar