How do multiple masked relevant prime stimuli affect a conscious response: Two prime arrows produce independent priming effects on the target response

Abstract

Since there are a lot of sources of unconscious information in our mind, there is a possibility that multiple channels of unconscious information can affect a response at the same time. However, this question has been largely ignored by the researchers. In the present study, we presented two opposite pointing arrows as the masked primes followed by a target arrow. The results suggested that the two pointing directions of the two prime arrows influenced the response to the target simultaneously and independently, i.e. the overall priming effect caused by the two opposite pointing prime arrows was equal to the net effect of the individual congruent effect elicited by the same pointing prime arrow and the individual incongruent priming effect induced by the opposite pointing prime arrow. In addition, in Experiment 1, a biased delayed response to the target was observed when the target arrow and the opposite pointing prime arrow were closely positioned in space due to Gestalt proximity grouping.