Priming complex words: evidence for supralexical representation of morphology

Effects of morphologically related primes were examined in two masked prime experiments. Responses to both free root and derived suffixed word targets were facilitated when primes were derived suffixed words containing the target’s root, and this facilitation effect showed a time course similar to that for the facilitation effect of repetition primes (though systematically smaller in magnitude). In a control experiment only the longest prime duration of Experiment 1 was used; responses to derived suffixed word targets were facilitated by both free root primes and derived suffixed word primes sharing the target’s root (relative to unrelated and form-related control primes). The free root and derived suffixed word prime conditions did not differ significantly. In Experiment 2, only true derived word primes produced facilitation, whereas morphologically simple primes containing a pseudoroot did not influence performance relative to the unrelated prime condition. We argue that this supports a supralexical account of morphological representation.     

Priming effects with ambiguous figures

We varied the format and semantic content of primes to determine the degree to which they would influence the interpretation of ambiguous figures. The primes were objects or object names that were related in some way to one of the two organizations of the ambiguous figures. In Experiment 1, we provided some normative data regarding the stimulus materials, whereas in Experiment 2, an orienting question was used to focus attention on the semantic relationship between the prime and the figure. In Experiment 3, we used the orienting question to divert attention away from the relationship by asking about physical features of the figures. Recognition responses to biased versions of the figures and to new figures were measured. Primes that were loosely and indirectly associated with one of the two interpretations of an ambiguous figure were found to be effective at biasing the interpretation of an ambiguous figure in the direction of the primed alternative but only if attention was focused on the semantic relationship between the two stimuli. Attention to the physical characteristics of the stimuli during encoding eliminated the prime's influence on complex object perception. These findings are consistent with the conceptual priming literature and extend those of some recent studies (Balcetis & Dale, 2007; Feist & Gentner, 2007), which show that the interpretation of complex figures can be biased by the advanced presentation of related verbal information.     

Priming dominant and unusual senses of ambiguous words

The priming technique was used to investigate the conditions under which a homograph’s dominant and/or nondominant semantic sense will be retrieved. Subjects verified whether “A(n) A is a(n) B” when A was an ambiguous word and B was a word corresponding to either a dominant or an unusual semantic sense of word A. When word B most often corresponded to the dominant sense of word A (Experiment I), a Priming by Dominance interaction was obtained in the reaction time (RT) data; viz, the facilitatory effect of priming was greater for the dominant-sense sentences than for the unusual-sense sentences. When the word B equally often corresponded to the dominant and unusual senses of A (Experiment 2), the facilitatory effect of priming was equal for the dominant-sense and unusual-sense sentences. These results were interpreted within the framework of a two-stage model of lexical access (d. Posner & Snyder, 1975; Neely, 1977). An application of this two-stage model to the now rather extensive literature on homographic processing helps clear up the apparent contradictions that have been prevalent in this literature.     

Priming of semantic classifications by novel subliminal prime words

Four experiments demonstrate category congruency priming by subliminal prime words that were never seen as targets in a valence-classification task (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) and a gender-classification task (Experiment 3). In Experiment 1, overlap in terms of word fragments of one or more letters between primes and targets of different valences was larger than between primes and targets of the same valence. In Experiments 2 and 3, the sets of prime words and target words were completely disjoint in terms of used letters. In Experiment 4, pictures served as targets. The observed subliminal priming effects for novel primes cannot be driven by partial analysis of primes at the word-fragment level; they suggest instead that primes were processed semantically as whole words contingent upon prime duration.     

Shaking hands: Priming by social action effects

In a semi‐naturalistic response–effect compatibility paradigm, participants were given the opportunity to learn that hand‐shaking actions would be followed by social effects (human hand‐shaking stimuli from a third‐person perspective) or inanimate effects (block arrow stimuli). Relative to the actions, these effects appeared on the same or the opposite side of the screen (positional compatibility), and pointed towards or away from the response hand (directional compatibility). After learning, response times indicated a positional compatibility effect for both social and inanimate effects, but a directional compatibility effect occurred only for social action effects. These findings indicate that actions can be represented, not only by their effects on the inanimate world, but also by their effects on the actions of others. They are consistent with ideomotor theory, and with the view that actions are represented by bidirectional response–effect associations. They also have implications with respect to the origins and on‐line control of imitation and the systems supporting imitation.     

Priming word recognition with orthographic neighbors: effects of relative prime-target frequency

Four lexical decision experiments were performed with an orthographic priming paradigm in which test words were preceded by orthographically related or unrelated prime words. When prime words were presented for 350 ms without a mask, it was observed that primes that are lower frequency orthographic neighbors of the target interfered with target processing relative to an unrelated condition. When primes were higher frequency neighbors of the target, no interference or facilitation was observed. On the other hand, with briefly presented masked primes, interference was observed with higher frequency prime words. Finally, facilitatory effects in masked repetition priming were obtained with both high- and low-frequency prime-target pairs. The results are interpreted in terms of activation and selection processes operating in visual word recognition.     

Priming effects in perceptual classification

Priming stimuli that spatially flank a fixated target stimulus may cause either facilitation or interference with target classification, depending on experimental context. Two experiments demonstrated distinct effects of response compatibility and semantic congruity between flankers and target. Response competition occurred when targets were flanked by context stimuli associated with the opposite response, but this effect diminished when the target was delayed relative to the flankers. Facilitative priming by response-compatible flankers, in contrast, required prior exposure of the flankers, and was strongly influenced by the semantic congruity of flankers and targets. These differing time courses suggest that perceptual priming encompasses a variety of distinct underlying cognitive and motor events.     

Priming effects in attentional gating

Three experiments were conducted to determine the effects of amount of prior target information (Experiment 1) and semantic priming (Experiment 2) in an attentional gating task. The goal was to determine some causes of the processing deficits commonly observed in perceiving successive visual stimuli. Items in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream are subject to processing deficits before they are processed to the level of recognition (early selection) and after they have been recognized (late selection). Deficits in the former case presumably are due to an early filter that prevents complete recognition and semantic analysis, whereas deficits in the latter case arise from interference or response competition, producing forgetting among a set of recognized items. The semantic-priming effects found between a cue and a target (Experiment 2) and between two successive targets (Experiment 3) indicate that top-down processes can increase the subjective availability of related items. The results are consistent with the idea that most processing deficits observed in search through an RSVP sequence are due to limited capacity in our ability to form episodic representations of all the items in the sequence.     

Priming effects in prospective memory

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine whether an increased activation of knowledge structures facilitates memory for future actions. Priming effects were manipulated by giving subjects a category fluency task for half of the target categories used in the subsequent prospective memory task. In this task, younger and older adults performed an action whenever an instance of a given semantic category occurred in the context of a free association task. The degree of retrieval support was varied by using typical and atypical category instances as targets. Although reliable priming effects were observed for both age groups, the magnitude of priming interacted with the degree of retrieval support. Older adults showed priming effects for typical targets only, whereas the opposite pattern of results was obtained for younger adults. These findings indicate that, in addition to retrieval-related factors, the operations performed at the time of planning also contribute to optimal prospective remembering.     

Priming effects with food and water reinforcers in hamsters

Hamsters were tested in a square maze with either food or water in each corner compartment. A substantial priming effect (runway times increase as intertrial interval increases) was demonstrated using both food and water reinforcers. A lengthy period of free access to food and water (satiation) immediately abolished the priming effect, although runway times in general remained relatively rapid for some time. Extinction of rapid runway times proceeded more slowly under food than under water deprivation. It is concluded that priming is a widespread phenomenon associated with the presentation of a reinforcing stimulus to an appropriately deprived animal.     

Priming and implicit recognition depend on similar temporal changes in perceptual representations

Previous studies have reported that longer stimulus presentation decreases the magnitude of priming. In the present study, we used meaningless kaleidoscope images, which were reported to minimize conceptual processing, to investigate the mechanism of the phenomenon. We assessed the impact of stimulus duration on perceptual priming (Experiment 1) and implicit recognition memory (Experiment 2). Both the magnitude of priming and the accuracy of implicit recognition were lower with the longer stimulus presentation (350 ms) compared with the shorter presentation (250 ms). This coincidence of temporal dynamics between priming and implicit recognition suggests similar underlying memory mechanisms. In both cases, the decrease of performance with longer presentation can be explained by either changes in perceptual processes or interference from explicit memory retrieval.     

Priming of reach trajectory when observing actions: Hand-centred effects

When another person's actions are observed it appears that these actions are simulated, such that similar motor processes are triggered in the observer. Much evidence suggests that such simulation concerns the achievement of behavioural goals, such as grasping a particular object, and is less concerned with the specific nature of the action, such as the path the hand takes to reach the goal object. We demonstrate that when observing another person reach around an obstacle, an observer's subsequent reach has an increased curved trajectory, reflecting motor priming of reach path. This priming of reach trajectory via action observation can take place under a variety of circumstances: with or without a shared goal, and when the action is seen from a variety of perspectives. However, of most importance, the reach path priming effect is only evoked if the obstacle avoided by another person is within the action (peripersonal) space of the observer.     

情绪启动：一次阈上与阈下启动研究的实验报告

本文将情绪图片作为启动刺激,分别以阈上和阈下的方式呈现,采用主观情绪自我评定量表和投射问卷检验情绪启动效应.结果发现阈上情绪诱发以消极情绪明显且宜以自我评定方法检验,而阈下情绪启动积极情绪效应优于消极情绪启动且宜用投射检验.     

Same-different judgments with words and nonwords: The differential effects of relative size

Words were paired with words and nonwords with nonwords in a simultaneous matching task requiring a same-different judgment. A difference in size slowed “same” RTs for both words and nonwords, while “differ” RTs for both words and nonwords were unaffected. These results do not support Bruder and Silverman’s 1974 conclusion that the word processing system filters size. The effects of relative size differences were discussed in terms of (a) normalization procedures and (b) changes in states of evidence leading to alterations in a response selection stage.     

Reading spoken words: orthographic effects in auditory priming

Three experiments examined the involvement of orthography in spoken word processing using a task - unimodal auditory priming with offset overlap - taken to reflect activation of prelexical representations. Two types of prime-target relationship were compared; both involved phonological overlap, but only one had a strong orthographic overlap (e.g., dream-gleam vs. scheme-gleam). In Experiment 1, which used lexical decision, phonological overlap facilitated target responses in comparison with an unrelated condition (e.g., stove-gleam). More importantly, facilitation was modulated by degree of orthographic overlap. Experiment 2 employed the same design as Experiment 1, but with a modified procedure aimed at eliciting swifter responses. Again, the phonological priming effect was sensitive to the degree of orthographic overlap between prime and target. Finally, to test whether this orthographic boost was caused by congruency between response type and valence of the prime-target overlap, Experiment 3 used a pseudoword detection task, in which participants responded "yes" to novel words and "no" to known words. Once again phonological priming was observed, with a significant boost in the orthographic overlap condition. These results indicate a surprising level of orthographic involvement in speech perception, and provide clear evidence for mandatory orthographic activation during spoken word recognition.     

Priming the mental time-line: effects of modality and processing mode

The notion of a mental time-line (i.e., past corresponds to left and future corresponds to right) supports the conceptual metaphor view assuming that abstract concepts like “time” are grounded in cognitively more accessible concepts like “space.” In five experiments, we further investigated the relationship between temporal and spatial representations and examined whether or not the spatial correspondents of time are unintentionally activated. We employed a priming paradigm, in which visual or auditory prime words (i.e., temporal adverbs such as yesterday, tomorrow) preceded a colored square. In all experiments, participants discriminated the color of this square by responding with the left or the right hand. Although the temporal reference of the priming adverb was task irrelevant in Experiment 1, visually presented primes facilitated responses to the square in correspondence with the direction of the mental time-line. This priming effect was absent in Experiments 2, 3, and 5, in which the primes were presented auditorily and the temporal reference of the words could be ignored. The effect, however, emerged when attention was oriented to the temporal content of the auditory prime words in Experiment 4. The results suggest that task demands differentially modulate the activation of the mental time-line within the visual and auditory modality and support a flexible association between conceptual codes.     

Interfering neighbours: the impact of novel word learning on the identification of visually similar words

We assessed the impact of visual similarity on written word identification by having participants learn new words (e.g. BANARA) that were neighbours of familiar words that previously had no neighbours (e.g. BANANA). Repeated exposure to these new words made it more difficult to semantically categorize the familiar words. There was some evidence of interference following an initial training phase, and clear evidence of interference the following day (without any additional training); interference was larger still following more training on the second day. These findings lend support to models of reading that include lexical competition as a key process.     

The lasting effect of words on feelings: words may facilitate exposure effects to threatening images

Previous studies have shown that mere words, particularly affective words, can dampen emotional responses. However, the effect of affective labels on emotional responding in the long term is unknown. The authors examined whether repeated exposure to aversive images would lead to more reduction in autonomic reactivity a week later if the images were exposed with single-word labels than without labels. In Experiment 1, healthy individuals were exposed to pictures of disturbing scenes with or without labels on Day 1. On Day 8, the same pictures from the previous week were exposed, this time without labels. In Experiment 2, participants were spider fearful and were exposed to pictures of spiders. In both experiments, although repeated exposure to aversive images (without labels) led to long-term attenuation of autonomic reactivity, exposure plus affective labels, but not nonaffective labels, led to more attenuation than exposure alone. Thus, affective labels may help dampen emotional reactivity in both the short and long terms. Implications for exposure therapy and translational studies are discussed.