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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Irrelevant Stimuli and Action Control: Analyzing the Influence of Ignored Stimuli via the Distractor-Response Binding Paradigm
Published on: May 14, 2014
Negative priming is stronger for task-relevant dimensions: Evidence of flexibility in the selective ignoring of
Christian Frings1, Dirk Wentura
1Department of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. c.frings@mx.uni-saarland.de
Abstract:
The finding that in selective attention tasks responses to previously ignored stimuli are usually retarded is known as negative priming (NP). In previous studies it has been suggested that NP can depend on behavioural goals--that is, NP was observed only for task-relevant object dimensions. We extend these findings with two experiments demonstrating that stronger NP can be observed for task-relevant dimensions than for task-irrelevant dimensions (a) even if participants' tasks vary blockwise within an experiment and (b) if behavioural goals vary from trial to trial. These results suggest that selective NP is a much more flexible process than previously assumed.
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