How important is a prime's gestalt for subliminal priming?

Full Abstract

Masked stimuli (primes) can affect the preparation of a motor response to subsequently presented target stimuli. Under some conditions, reactions to the main stimulus can be facilitated (straight priming) or inhibited (inverse priming) when preceded by a compatible prime (calling for the same response). In the majority of studies in which inverse priming was demonstrated arrows pointing left or right were used as prime and targets. There is, however, evidence that arrows are special overlearned stimuli which are processed in a favorable way. Here we report three experiments designated to test whether the "arrowness" of primes/targets is a sufficient condition for inverse priming. The results clearly show that although inverse priming appeared when non-arrow shapes were used, the magnitude of the priming effect was larger with arrows. The possible reasons for this effect are discussed.

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Author information

Author/s: Jaskowski, Piotr (P); Slósarek, Maciej (M);

Affiliation: Department of Cognitive Psychology, University of Finance and Management, Warszawa, Poland. jaskowski(-atsign-)vizja.pl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Consciousness and cognition (Conscious Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jun; vol 16 (issue 2) : pp 485-97

Dates: Created 2007/06/11; Completed 2007/10/02;

PMID: 16919477, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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