Is Semantic Priming Automatic

摘要

The time to decide that a letter string (e.g., 'doctor') is a word is reduced when it is preceeded by a related word ('nurse'). At least some component of this semantic priming effect is thought to be automatic and therefore free of attentional limitations. The present series of experiments investigated this claim engaging subjects in an attention-demanding activity at the time of presentation of the prime word. The results indicated that the usual semantic priming effect could be eliminated and in some cases reversed 'negative priming' if encoding processes on the concurrent task occurred in close temporal proximity to the prime word. Delay in this encoding process resulted in priming for both attended and unattended prime words. Semantic priming appears to be a 'weakly' automatic process. It can occur for both attended and unattended words but can be suppressed by stimultaneous memory encoding of other information. (Author)