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Preferences and inferences in encoding visual objects: a systematic comparison of semantic and affective priming
Justin Storbeck1, Michael D Robinson
1University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22904-4400, USA. storbeck@virginia.edu
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|March 20, 2004
Summary
Affective priming is fragile, especially when semantic properties differ. Semantic priming, however, was consistently found across studies using words and pictures.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Priming effects influence cognitive processing.
- Semantic and affective priming are distinct but related phenomena.
- Understanding their interplay is crucial for cognitive models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically compare semantic and affective priming.
- To investigate conditions influencing affective priming.
- To examine automatic encoding tendencies using words and pictures.
Main Methods:
- Five studies employed lexical decision and evaluation tasks.
- Stimuli included words and pictures with varied semantic and affective relations.
- Short-duration primes (200 ms) were presented before targets.
Main Results:
- Semantic priming was consistently observed.
- Affective priming was not found under standard conditions.
- Affective priming emerged only when stimuli belonged to a single semantic category.
- Picture-based studies conceptually replicated word-based findings.
Conclusions:
- Affective priming appears to be a fragile phenomenon.
- Salient variations in semantic properties can disrupt affective priming.
- Contextual factors, like semantic consistency, are critical for affective priming.