Negative priming and stimulus familiarity: what causes opposite results?

Full Abstract

There has been a discrepancy among past studies with regard to the relation between negative priming and familiarity of stimuli. That is, Malley and Strayer (1995; Strayer & Grison, 1999) reported that the more familiar the stimuli were, the larger negative priming became (i.e., a positive correlation), whereas DeSchepper and Treisman (1996; Treisman & DeSchepper, 1996) reported that the less familiar the stimuli were, the larger negative priming became (i.e., a negative correlation). These studies differ not only in their experimental tasks (identification vs. matching) but also in their respective manners of arranging unfamiliar stimuli (pure vs. mixed). In the present study, using an identical set of stimuli, we examined whether these factors caused the opposite results. An identification task with a pure arrangement produced a positive correlation, and a matching task with a mixed arrangement produced a negative correlation. These results suggest that the past opposing results are both replicable and that they have reflected the different causal mechanisms of negative priming.

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Author information

Author/s: Nagai, Jun-Ichi (J); Yokosawa, Kazuhiko (K);

Affiliation: Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. jnagai(-atsign-)muc.biglobe.ne.jp

Journal and publication information

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

Journal: Memory & cognition (Mem Cognit), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Apr; vol 31 (issue 3) : pp 369-79

Dates: Created 2003/06/10; Completed 2003/07/08; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12795479, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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