Distractors of low activation can produce negative priming

In two experiments, we examined negative priming produced by distractors of low activation. A hybrid methodology was adopted to incorporate a study phase in which stimuli repetitively served as a target or a distractor, and a test phase in which the relationship in prime-probe couplets was manipulated. A critical manipulation was the presence or absence of novel stimuli in the test phase to alter the list context. The results showed that prime distractors of low activation produced negative priming when the test phase did not include novel items, which provided an optimal retrieval context. Prime distractors of high activation reliably led to negative priming when the list context contained novel items, but the effect varied when the list context did not include novel items. Theoretical implications are discussed.