Cross-modal nonspatial repetition inhibition

Although it has been well documented that the spatial inhibitory effect induced by repetition of location (i.e., spatial inhibition of return, or IOR) occurs cross-modally, we do not yet know whether nonspatial (e.g., color-based) repetition-induced inhibition occurs in a cross-modal fashion as well. In the present study, a novel cross-modal paradigm with regard to color-based repetition was adopted. An intervening neutral cue, whose semantic identity was different from those of both the prime and the target, was introduced between the prime and the target in a repetition-priming task. The modalities of the prime, the neutral cue, and the target could be either visual or auditory, and the prime and the target could refer either to the same or to different semantic identities. By adopting this paradigm, we aimed to answer two questions: (1) What are the specific conditions under which cross-modal semantic-based repetition inhibition occurs? (2) Are the representations inhibited in the semantic-based repetition inhibition effect supramodal or modality-specific? Our results suggested that semantic-based repetition inhibition occurs only when the prime and the neutral cue are from the same sensory modality, and it occurs irrespective of whether the modality of the target is cued and irrespective of whether the modality of the target is auditory or visual. Taken together, our results suggest that the occurrence of cross-modal nonspatial repetition inhibition is conditional and that the nonspatial representations inhibited by the repetition inhibition are supramodal.