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Negative priming for spatial locations: identity mismatching, not distractor inhibition
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1563.
Summary
Negative priming (NP) occurs not because distractors are inhibited, but due to a mismatch between a location and its bound symbol. Prior target selection is neither necessary nor sufficient for this effect.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human Perception
- Visual Attention
Background:
- Negative priming (NP) is often explained by the distractor inhibition hypothesis, suggesting distractors must be inhibited for target selection.
- This hypothesis posits that inhibiting irrelevant information is crucial for efficient cognitive processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the underlying mechanisms of negative priming (NP) in a spatial selection task.
- To test the distractor inhibition hypothesis against an alternative mismatching account for NP.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a target localization task adapted from Tipper, Brehaut, and Driver (1990).
- Conducted five experiments manipulating target selection and spatial location properties.
- Analyzed behavioral data to assess the conditions under which NP occurs.
Main Results:
- Target selection in the preceding trial was found to be neither necessary nor sufficient for NP.
- Evidence against the distractor inhibition hypothesis was demonstrated across multiple experiments.
- Results supported an alternative mismatching account where NP arises from symbol-location binding changes.
Conclusions:
- The distractor inhibition hypothesis does not adequately explain negative priming in spatial selection tasks.
- Negative priming appears to result from changes in the symbol associated with a location, not the location's status.
- This challenges traditional views and supports a representational change account of NP.