Abstract
Attention at encoding plays a critical and ubiquitous role in explicit memory performance, but its role in implicit memory performance (i.e., priming) is more variable: some, but not all, priming effects are reduced by division of attention at encoding. A wealth of empirical and theoretical work has aimed to define the critical features of priming effects that do or do not require attention at encoding. This work, however, has focused exclusively on priming effects that are beneficial in nature (wherein performance is enhanced by prior exposure to task stimuli), and has overlooked priming effects that are costly in nature (wherein performance is harmed by prior exposure to task stimuli). The present study takes up this question by examining the effect of divided attention on priming-induced costs and benefits in a speeded picture-naming task. Experiment 1 shows that the costs, but not the benefits, are eliminated by division of attention at encoding. Experiment 2 shows that the costs (as well as the benefits) in this task are intact in amnesic participants, demonstrating that the elimination of the cost in the divided attention condition in Experiment 1 was not an artifact of the reduced availability of explicit memory in that condition. We suggest that the differential role of attention in priming-induced performance costs and benefits is linked to differences in response competition associated with these effects. This interpretation situates the present findings within a theoretical framework that has been applied to a broad range of facilitatory priming effects.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, C. M., & Craik, F. I. (1974). The effect of a concurrent task on recall from primary memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13, 107–113. doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(74)80035-6
Baddeley, A., Lewis, V., Eldridge, M., & Thomson, N. (1984). Attention and retrieval from long-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 518–540. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.113.4.518
Bentin, S., Kutas, M., & Hillyard, S. A. (1995). Semantic processing and memory for attended and unattended words in dichotic listening: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21, 54–67. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.21.1.54
Cave, C. B., & Squire, L. R. (1992). Intact and long-lasting repetition priming in amnesia. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18, 509–520. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.18.3.509
Craik, F. I. M., Govoni, R., Naveh-Benjamin, M., & Anderson, N. D. (1996). The effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes in human memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 159–180. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.125.2.159
Faust, M. E., Balota, D. A., Spieler, D. H., & Ferraro, F. R. (1999). Individual differences in information-processing rate and amount: Implications for group differences in response latency. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 777–799. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.777
Fisk, A. D., & Schneider, W. (1984). Memory as a function of attention, level of processing, and automatization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 181–197. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.10.2.181
Gabrieli, J. D. E., Vaidya, C. J., Stone, M., Francis, W. S., Thompson-Schill, S. L., Fleischman, D. A., Tinklenberg, J. R., Yesavage, J. A., & Wilson, R. S. (1999). Convergent behavioral and neuropsychological evidence for a distinction between identification and production forms of repetition priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 128, 479–498. doi:10.1037//0096-3445.128.4.479
Graf, P., & Mandler, G. (1984). Activation makes words more accessible, but not necessarily more retrievable. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 553–568. doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(84)90346-3
Graf, P., & Schacter, D. L. (1987). Selective effects of interference on implicit and explicit memory for new associations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 45–53. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.13.1.45
Isingrini, M., Vazou, F., & Leroy, P. (1995). Dissociation of implicit and explicit memory tests: Effect of age and divided attention on category exemplar generation and cued recall. Memory & Cognition, 23, 462–467. doi:10.3758/bf03197247
Jacoby, L. L., & Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 110, 306–340. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.110.3.306
Jacoby, L. L., Woloshyn, V., & Kelley, C. (1989). Becoming famous without being recognized: Unconscious influences of memory produced by dividing attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 118, 115–125. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.118.2.115
Keane, M. M., Martin, E., & Verfaellie, M. (2009). Performance benefits and costs in forced choice perceptual identification in amnesia: Effects of prior exposure and word frequency. Memory & Cognition, 37, 655–666. doi:10.3758/Mc.37.5.655
Keane, M. M., Verfaellie, M., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Wong, B. M. (2000). Bias effects in perceptual identification: A neuropsychological investigation of the role of explicit memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 43, 316–334. doi:10.1006/jmla.2000.2732
Light, L. L., Prull, M. W., & Kennison, R. F. (2000). Divided attention, aging, and priming in exemplar generation and category verification. Memory & Cognition, 28, 856–872. doi:10.3758/bf03198421
Marsolek, C. J. (2008). What antipriming reveals about priming. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12, 176–181. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.02.005
Marsolek, C. J., Deason, R. G., Ketz, N. A., Ramanathan, P., Bernat, E. M., Steele, V. R., Patrick, C. J., Verfaellie, M., & Schnyer, D. M. (2010). Identifying objects impairs knowledge of other objects: A relearning explanation for the neural repetition effect. NeuroImage, 49, 1919–1932. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.08.063
Marsolek, C. J., Schnyer, D. M., Deason, R. G., Ritchey, M., & Verfaellie, M. (2006). Visual antipriming: Evidence for ongoing adjustments of superimposed visual object representations. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 6, 163–174. doi:10.3758/cabn.6.3.163
Moscovitch, M., Vriezen, E., & Goshen-Gottstein, Y. (1993). Implicit tests of memory in patients with focal lesions and degenerative brain disorders. In H. Spinnler & F. Boller (Eds.), Handbook of neuropsychology (Vol. 8, pp. 133–173). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Mulligan, N. W. (1998). The role of attention during encoding in implicit and explicit memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24, 27–47. doi:10.1037//0278-7393.24.1.27
Mulligan, N. W., & Hartman, M. (1996). Divided attention and indirect memory tests. Memory & Cognition, 24, 453–465. doi:10.3758/bf03200934
Mulligan, N. W., & Peterson, D. (2008). Attention and implicit memory in the category-verification and lexical decision tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 662–679. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.34.3.662
Murdock, B. B., Jr. (1965). Effects of a subsidiary task on short-term memory. British Journal of Psychology, 56, 413–419. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1965.tb00983.x
Parkin, A. J., Reid, T. K., & Russo, R. (1990). On the differential nature of implicit and explicit memory. Memory & Cognition, 18, 507–514. doi:10.3758/bf03198483
Parkin, A. J., & Russo, R. (1990). Implicit and explicit memory and the automatic/effortful distinction. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 2, 71–80. doi:10.1080/09541449008406198
Rajaram, S., Srinivas, K., & Travers, S. (2001). The effects of attention on perceptual implicit memory. Memory & Cognition, 29, 920–930. doi:10.3758/bf03195754
Ratcliff, R., Allbritton, D., & McKoon, G. (1997). Bias in auditory priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 143–152. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.23.1.143
Ratcliff, R., & McKoon, G. (1996). Bias effects in implicit memory tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 403–421. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.125.4.403
Ratcliff, R., & McKoon, G. (1997). A counter model for implicit priming in perceptual word identification. Psychological Review, 104, 319–343. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.104.2.319
Ratcliff, R., McKoon, G., & Verwoerd, M. (1989). A bias interpretation of facilitation in perceptual identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 378–387. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.15.3.378
Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1993). Implicit memory in normal human subjects. In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.), Handbook of neuropsychology (Vol. 8, pp. 63–131). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Rouder, J. N., Ratcliff, R., & McKoon, G. (2000). A neural network model of implicit memory for object recognition. Psychological Science, 11, 13–19. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00208
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 501–518. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.13.3.501
Schacter, D. L., Bowers, J., & Booker, J. (1989). Intention, awareness, and implicit memory: The retrieval intentionality criterion. In S. Lewandowsky, J. C. Dunn, & K. Kirsner (Eds.), Implicit memory: Theoretical issues (pp. 47–65). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (1996). The effects of divided attention on implicit and explicit memory performance. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2, 111–125. doi:10.1017/s1355617700000965
Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (1999). Effects of divided attention on perceptual and conceptual memory tests: An analysis using a process-dissociation approach. Memory & Cognition, 27, 512–525. doi:10.3758/bf03211545
Smith, M. E., & Oscar-Berman, M. (1990). Repetition priming of words and pseudowords in divided attention and in amnesia. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 1033–1042. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.16.6.1033
Spataro, P., Mulligan, N., & Rossi-Arnaud, C. (2010). Effects of divided attention in the word-fragment completion task with unique and multiple solutions. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 22, 18–45. doi:10.1080/09541440802685979
Spataro, P., Mulligan, N. W., & Rossi-Arnaud, C. (2011). Attention and implicit memory the role of the activation of multiple representations. Experimental Psychology, 58, 110–116. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000074
Szymanski, K. F., & MacLeod, C. M. (1996). Manipulation of attention at study affects an explicit but not an implicit test of memory. Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, 5, 165–175. doi:10.1006/ccog.1996.0010
Vaidya, C., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Keane, M. M., Monti, L. A., Gutierrez-Rivas, H., & Zarella, M. M. (1997). Evidence for multiple mechanisms of conceptual priming on implicit memory tests. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 1324–1343. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.23.6.1324
Verfaellie, M., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Vaidya, C. J., Croce, P., & Reminger, S. L. (1996). Implicit memory for pictures in amnesia: Role of etiology and priming task. Neuropsychology, 10, 517–528. doi:10.1037/0894-4105.10.4.517
Wolford, G., & Morrison, F. (1980). Processing of unattended visual information. Memory & Cognition, 8, 521–527. doi:10.3758/bf03213771
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grant MH70830 and the Clinical Science Research and Development Service, Department of Veterans Affairs. The authors thank Elizabeth Parks, Mary Colvin, Elizabeth Martin, Lisa Peterson, and Amanda Utevsky for research assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Keane, M.M., Cruz, M.E. & Verfaellie, M. Attention and implicit memory: priming-induced benefits and costs have distinct attentional requirements. Mem Cogn 43, 216–225 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0464-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0464-4