Incidental learning of S-R contingencies in the masked prime task.

Abstract

Subliminal motor priming effects in the masked prime paradigm can only be obtained when primes are part of the task set. In 2 experiments, the authors investigated whether the relevant task set feature needs to be explicitly instructed or could be extracted automatically in an incidental learning paradigm. Primes and targets were symmetrical arrows, with target color, not shape, the response-relevant feature. Shape and color covaried for targets (e.g., ϽϾ always blue, ϾϽ always green), whereas primes were always black. Over time, a negative compatibility effect (NCE; response benefits when prime and target had different shapes) developed, indicating that primes affected the motor system. When target shape and color varied independently (control condition), no NCE occurred, in line with the assumption that the NCE reflects task set-dependent motor processes, not perceptual interactions.

Expectation mismatch: Differences between self-generated and cue-induced expectations

“…Potentially, with practice, cues might acquire the capability to automatically activate responses (cf. Mordkoff and Halterman, 2008;Schlaghecken et al, 2007), while their influence on expectation might diminish (cf. Gaschler and Nattkemper, 2012).…”

Exaggerated object affordance and absent automatic inhibition in alien hand syndrome

“…As long as appropriate stimuli are used (see Schlaghecken et al., 2007; Lleras and Enns, 2004; Sumner, 2008), this NCE can be interpreted as reflecting automatic suppression of the primed response (see e.g., Eimer and Schlaghecken, 2003; Jáskowski, 2007, 2008, 2009; Sumner, 2007). According to these sensorimotor accounts of the NCE, initial motor activation evoked by the prime is subsequently suppressed when the prime is removed or a novel stimulus (the mask) is added to the scene (e.g., Boy et al., 2008; Jáskowski, 2007, 2008, 2009).…”

Tight coupling between positive and reversed priming in the masked prime paradigm.

“…With more arbitrary S-R mappings, and even sometimes with arrows, there is some indication from previous research that practice can be required to obtain a robust NCE (Klapp & Hinkley, 2002; Sumner, 2008). It has also been found that an NCE can develop gradually for incidental learning of S-R contingencies (Schlaghecken, Blagrove, & Maylor, 2007). In this study participants were instructed to respond to colour, but there was also a consistent relationship between the colour and the shape of the targets.…”