Oscillations in motor priming: positive rebound follows the inhibitory phase in the masked prime paradigm.

Full Abstract

Masked stimuli can cause partial motor activation and prime responses to subsequent stimuli. Under certain conditions, a biphasic pattern appears, such that positive priming precedes a negative phase, which has been interpreted as evidence of an inhibitory mechanism that suppresses the motor activity caused by the prime. In this article, the authors report evidence for a further reversal in priming: In two experiments, the authors found that the negative compatibility effect was followed by a small but repeatable positive priming effect at an interval of approximately 500 ms between prime and target. Thus, masked primes appear to produce a triphasic pattern of priming, which is consistent with the notion that oscillation between facilitation and inhibition may be a fundamental property of the competitive interactions between response alternatives in the motor system.

Author information

Author/s: Sumner, Petroc (P); Brandwood, Tracey (T);

Affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom. sumnerp(-atsign-)cardiff.ac.uk

Grants: (Agency:Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)

Journal and publication information

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

Journal: Journal of motor behavior (J Mot Behav), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Nov; vol 40 (issue 6) : pp 484-9

Dates: Created 2008/11/04; Completed 2008/12/18;

PMID: 18980902, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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