How important is a prime's gestalt for subliminal priming?
Masked stimuli (primes) can affect the preparation of a motor response to subsequently presented target stimuli. Under some conditions, reactions to the main stimulus can be facilitated (straight priming) or inhibited (inverse priming) when preceded by a compatible prime (calling for the same response). In the majority of studies in which inverse priming was demonstrated arrows pointing left or right were used as prime and targets. There is, however, evidence that arrows are special overlearned stimuli which are processed in a favorable way. Here we report three experiments designated to test whether the "arrowness" of primes/targets is a sufficient condition for inverse priming. The results clearly show that although inverse priming appeared when non-arrow shapes were used, the magnitude of the priming effect was larger with arrows. The possible reasons for this effect are discussed.
Jaśkowski
Piotr
P
Department of Cognitive Psychology, University of Finance and Management, Warszawa, Poland. jaskowski@vizja.pl
Slósarek
Maciej
M
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010056:Overlearning; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011930:Reaction Time; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception