title: Dissociation of rapid response learning and facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks of person recognition.
abstract: Repetition priming is a prominent example of non-declarative memory, and it increases the accuracy and speed of responses to repeatedly processed stimuli. Major long-hold memory theories posit that repetition priming results from facilitation within perceptual and conceptual networks for stimulus recognition and categorization. Stimuli can also be bound to particular responses, and it has recently been suggested that this rapid response learning, not network facilitation, provides a sound theory of priming of object recognition. Here, we addressed the relevance of network facilitation and rapid response learning for priming of person recognition with a view to advance general theories of priming. In four experiments, participants performed conceptual decisions like occupation or nationality judgments for famous faces. The magnitude of rapid response learning varied across experiments, and rapid response learning co-occurred and interacted with facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks. These findings indicate that rapid response learning and facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks are complementary rather than competing theories of priming. Thus, future memory theories need to incorporate both rapid response learning and network facilitation as individual facets of priming.
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Valt
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK.|Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University of Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Stephan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Boehm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: famous faces; memory models; person recognition; priming; rapid response learning; theory