Separating the effects of alertness from the effects of encoding in a pitch-imagery task.
The facilitatory effects of auditory imagery have often been attributed to priming. However, the facilitatory effects of a prime on subsequent processing can be separated into effects related to specific perceptual processes, such as encoding, and effects related to more general processes, such as alertness. Whereas research on auditory imagery has focused on code-activated facilitation, the role of alertness in image-induced facilitation has been largely presumed rather than empirically investigated. Therefore, a study was designed to isolate the facilitatory effects of alertness from those of encoding. The results show that the nonspecific alerting effects of auditory imaging were quite extensive--a nearly 78-ms decrease in reaction time--compared with the effects of encoding.
Sullivan
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Department of Psychology Butler University, Indianapolis, IN 46220, USA. sullivan@butler.edu
Urakawa
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KS
Cossey
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VL
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011930:Reaction Time