Mechanisms of subliminal response priming

• Authors: Andrea Kiesel , Wilfried Kunde , Joachim Hoffmann

Abstracts

EN

Subliminal response priming has been considered to operate on several stages, e.g. perceptual, central or motor stages might be affected. While primes' impact on target perception has been clearly demonstrated, semantic response priming recently has been thrown into doubt (e.g. Klinger, Burton, & Pitts, 2000). Finally, LRP studies have revealed that subliminal primes evoke motor processes. Yet, the premises for such prime-evoked motor activation are not settled. A transfer of priming to stimuli that have never been presented as targets appears particularly interesting because it suggests a level of processing that goes beyond a reactivation of previously acquired S-R links. Yet, such transfer has not always withstood empirical testing. To account for these contradictory results, we proposed a two-process model (Kunde, Kiesel, & Hoffmann, 2003): First, participants build up expectations regarding imperative stimuli for the required responses according to experience and/or instructions. Second, stimuli that match these "action triggers" directly activate the corresponding motor responses irrespective of their conscious identification. In line with these assumptions, recent studies revealed that non-target primes induce priming when they fit the current task intentions and when they are expected in the experimental setting.

Keywords

EN

subliminal priming; priming mechanism; action trigger account

• Publisher: Wyższa Szkoła Finansów i Zarządzania w Warszawie
• Journal: Advances in Cognitive Psychology
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 307-315

Contributors

author

Andrea Kiesel

• Department of Psychology, Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg, Germany

author

Wilfried Kunde

• Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

author

Joachim Hoffmann

• Department of Psychology, Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg, Germany

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10053-008-0032-1