Abstract
Response priming is a phenomenon that responses are faster when target and prime elicit the same response (congruent condition), compared with when they elicit the opposite responses (incongruent condition). The effect occurs even when the prime is invisible. However, the effect of visibility on the priming has not been verified. In addition, it is not clear whether the effect depends on the promotion of response by the congruent prime or the inhibition by the incongruent prime.
In Experiment 1, we examined the effect of the SOA between the prime and the target and the visibility of the prime. In Experiment 2, the effect of visibility under constant SOA was examined. We used Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS) as an index of the subjective visibility of the prime. Thirty-one undergraduate students participated in Experiment 1, and twenty-three undergraduate student participated in Experiment 2. Participants were told that two arrows were presented in succession and the first arrow (prime) might be invisible but the second arrow (target) was always visible. They were instructed to tilt the joystick in the direction of the target arrow as quickly and accurately as possible, and then to report the visibility of the prime. The visibility was classified either of 0 (nothing was seen at all), 1(something was seen), 2(an arrow was visible), or 3(an arrow was clearly visible).
Analyses by linear mixed model confirmed that the prime visibility affects the strength of the response priming independently of the SOA in both Experiments 1 and 2. The inhibitory effect by the incongruent prime was observed in both Experiment 1 and 2. This suggests that the response priming was mainly produced by inhibition from the incongruent prime.