Retrieval of Incidental Stimulus-Response Associations as a Source of Negative Priming.

TLDR

The study examined how ignored distractor words influence priming in a task‑switching paradigm with orthogonal priming and response compatibility. Across four experiments, the authors found a disordinal priming–response interaction: ignored distractor repetition slowed responses when a different response was required (negative priming) but facilitated responses when the same response was required (positive priming), a pattern replicated in a letter‑matching task and supporting a model of automatic retrieval of incidental stimulus‑response associations.

Abstract

Priming effects of ignored distractor words were investigated in a task-switching situation that allowed an orthogonal variation of priming and response compatibility between prime and probe. Across 3 experiments, the authors obtained a disordinal interaction of priming and response relation. Responding was delayed in the ignored repetition condition if different responses were required for identical stimuli in the prime and probe (negative priming). Repeating the prime distractor in the probe facilitated responding if the same response was required in the prime and in the probe (positive priming). The same pattern of results was replicated in a letter-matching task without task switching (Experiment 4). Findings lend support to a new model that explains negative priming in terms of an automatic retrieval of incidental stimulus-response associations.