title: Mechanisms of masked evaluative priming: task sets modulate behavioral and electrophysiological priming for picture and words differentially.
abstract: Research with the evaluative priming paradigm has shown that affective evaluation processes reliably influence cognition and behavior, even when triggered outside awareness. However, the precise mechanisms underlying such subliminal evaluative priming effects, response activation vs semantic processing, are matter of a debate. In this study, we determined the relative contribution of semantic processing and response activation to masked evaluative priming with pictures and words. To this end, we investigated the modulation of masked pictorial vs verbal priming by previously activated perceptual vs semantic task sets and assessed the electrophysiological correlates of priming using event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects showed a differential modulation of pictorial and verbal subliminal priming by previously activated task sets: Pictorial priming was only observed during the perceptual but not during the semantic task set. Verbal priming, in contrast, was found when either task set was activated. Furthermore, only verbal priming was associated with a modulation of the N400 ERP component, an index of semantic processing, whereas a priming-related modulation of earlier ERPs, indexing visuo-motor S-R activation, was found for both picture and words. The results thus demonstrate that different neuro-cognitive processes contribute to unconscious evaluative priming depending on the stimulus format.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Section for Cognitive Electrophysiology, Ulm University, 89075 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiefer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Section for Cognitive Electrophysiology, Ulm University, 89075 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liegel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Section for Cognitive Electrophysiology, Ulm University, 89075 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zovko
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, General Psychology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wentura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attentional control; automatic processes; evaluative priming; event-related potentials; unconscious visual processing