Abstract
Subliminal priming is said to occur when a subliminal prime influences the classification of a subsequent target. Most subliminal-priming claims are based on separate target- and prime-classification tasks. Because primes are intended to be subliminal, the prime-classification task is difficult, and the target-classification task is easy. To assess whether this task-difficulty difference accounts for previous claims of subliminal priming, we manipulated the ease of the prime-classification task by intermixing long-duration (visible) primes with short-duration (near liminal) ones. In Experiment 1, this strategy of intermixing long-duration primes raised classification of the shortduration ones. In Experiments 2 and 3, prime duration was lowered in such a way that prime classification was at chance in intermixed presentations. Under these conditions, we failed to observe any priming effects; hence, previous demonstrations of subliminal priming may simply have reflected a task-difficulty artifact.
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This research is supported by NSF Grant SES-0351523 and by NIMH Grant R01-MH071418.
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Pratte, M.S., Rouder, J.N. A task-difficulty artifact in subliminal priming. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 71, 1276–1283 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.71.6.1276
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.71.6.1276