title: Probe distractors can influence negative priming by perceptual grouping.
abstract: Negative priming occurs when a response is slower to a target that was a previously ignored stimulus. According to a computational model of inhibition, negative priming results from relative activation between a target and a distractor in probe trials. Thus, the degree of competition in the probe trial should influence negative priming. The results from three experiments supported this hypothesis. Probe distractors grouped with a target by a rectangle produced a larger negative priming effect than did distractors isolated from the target. Moreover, neither prime-probe similarity nor perceptual interference could explain the grouping effect. The results suggest that perceptual mechanisms can influence negative priming via a race in the probe trial.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. yyy@ntu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Yei-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Hsuan-Fu
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Chao
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D011930:Reaction Time; D014796:Visual Perception