Identity Negative Priming: A Phenomenon of Perception, Recognition or Selection?

Abstract

The present study addresses the problem whether negative priming (NP) is due to information processing in perception, recognition or selection. We argue that most NP studies confound priming and perceptual similarity of prime-probe episodes and implement a color-switch paradigm in order to resolve the issue. In a series of three identity negative priming experiments with verbal naming response, we determined when NP and positive priming (PP) occur during a trial. The first experiment assessed the impact of target color on priming effects. It consisted of two blocks, each with a different fixed target color. With respect to target color no differential priming effects were found. In Experiment 2 the target color was indicated by a cue for each trial. Here we resolved the confounding of perceptual similarity and priming condition. In trials with coinciding colors for prime and probe, we found priming effects similar to Experiment 1. However, trials with a target color switch showed such effects only in trials with role-reversal (distractor-to-target or target-to-distractor), whereas the positive priming (PP) effect in the target-repetition trials disappeared. Finally, Experiment 3 split trial processing into two phases by presenting the trial-wise color cue only after the stimulus objects had been recognized. We found recognition in every priming condition to be faster than in control trials. We were hence led to the conclusion that PP is strongly affected by perception, in contrast to NP which emerges during selection, i.e., the two effects cannot be explained by a single mechanism.

The Suppression of Irrelevant Semantic Representations in Parkinson’s Disease

“…The results obtained for the control group are in line with existing literature concerning negative priming of objects, where response time is consistently slower for trials where the distractor in the prime display is identical to the subsequent probe (Tipper, 1985; de Zubicaray et al, 2006; Schrobsdorff et al, 2012). Furthermore, it has been recently established that identity or object-based negative priming is not influenced by age and the effect appears to remain constant across the lifespan (for reviews see Gamboz et al, 2002; Frings et al, 2015).…”

Dopaminergic therapy affects learning and impulsivity in Parkinson's disease

“…DS mediates resisting attentional capture by more salient aspects of a situation or reflexive enactment of more automatic responses to produce more deliberate and considered responses 29. When DS is impaired, as in unmedicated PD, increased motor or reflexive impulsivity is expected.…”

The control of language production and its neural substrates in Parkinson's disease

“…The results obtained for the control group are in line with existing literature concerning negative priming of objects, where response time is consistently slower for trials where the distractor in the prime display is identical to the subsequent probe (de Zubicaray, McMahon, Eastburn, Pringle, & Lorenz, 2006;Schrobsdorff, Ihrke, Behrendt, Herrmann, & Hasselhorn, 2012;Tipper, 1985). Furthermore, it has been recently established that identity or object-based negative priming is not influenced by age and the effect appears to remain constant across the lifespan (for reviews see Frings, Schneider, & Fox, 2015;Gamboz, Russo, & Fox, 2002).…”

“…However, it must be noted that negative priming tasks are considered to provide a measurement of an individual's ability to ignore a presented item. While there is some evidence to suggest that ignoring irrelevant stimuli is not passive in nature but does in fact require active processing (Schrobsdorff et al, 2012), the mechanisms underlying this process may differ to those recruited to suppress a prepotent verbal response (as in the HSCT). Furthermore, it has been suggested that PD participants are aided by the availability of external cueing, and that cognitive performance in this population appears to fail more consistently when internal self-cueing is required (Brown & Marsden, 1988;Dubois & Pillon, 1996;Pollux & Robertson, 2002).…”