title: Retrieval of event files can be conceptually mediated.
abstract: Distractor-based retrieval of event files was assessed with a sequential priming experiment using a four-choice identification task. Pictures or sounds of four different animals (frog, chicken, lamb, singing bird) had to be categorized by pressing one of four keys. On each trial, a target and a distractor stimulus were presented simultaneously in different modalities. The relevant modality switched randomly between trials. Distractor repetition effects were modulated by the response relation between the prime and probe: Repeating the prime distractor in the probe produced facilitation if the response repeated, but not if a different response had to be given in the prime and probe. Repeating the prime distractor in the probe led to an automatic retrieval of the prime response. Importantly, this distractor-based response retrieval effect also emerged for those sequences in which the modality of the repeated distractor was switched between the prime and probe. This cross-modal priming effect indicates that distractors were integrated into event files on a conceptual level and that response retrieval processes were mediated by conceptual codes of the distractor stimuli.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Trier, Campus I, 54286 Trier, Germany. chfrings@uni-trier.de
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Frings
authors: Birte
authors: B
authors: Moeller
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Rothermund
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception