Temporal negative priming.

Abstract

Negative priming provides one useful measure of attentional focus and cognitive control, requirements of most domains of life (driving, work, play, etc.). Until now, 2 types of negative priming have been identified: identity negative priming and location negative priming. These effects are of particular interest because individuals who have difficulty ignoring distraction (e.g., individuals with schizophrenia and attention-deficit disorder) exhibit reduced levels of negative priming. In the present experiments (N = 187), we report an entirely new type of negative priming based on when in time a target appears (temporal negative priming) rather than its identity or spatial location. Results indicate that responses to a target’s temporal position were impaired when a distractor previously appeared at that same relative temporal position. In addition, temporal positioning was teased apart from response-based mechanisms and both were found to independently contribute to temporal negative priming. This result indicates that mechanisms of cognitive control trigger both response-based and memory-based processes.

Temporal and sequential negative priming generalise across visual and auditory modalities and are dependent on relative rather than absolute speed

“…But importantly, the finding was revealed as an interaction in all three analyses. Thus, temporal negative priming appears to be speed dependent only appearing in slow–fast prime–probe sequences, which replicates the findings of Kahan et al (2020). Specifically, participants were 91 ms slower in the initial experiment and 77 ms slower in the replication to respond in the ignored repetition conditions than control conditions.…”

“…No negative priming was revealed in the fast-prime, slow-probe sequences for the replication ( p = .399) or the combined data ( p = .283). This pattern of negative priming for slow but not fast-prime sequences replicates Kahan et al (2020).…”

“…However, when the ignored sequential position and response (Condition H) were compared with the unrelated condition (Condition J), the unrelated trials were not restricted in this way because the ignored response trials did not always have a target appearing in a possible prime position. These are the same comparisons that were made by Kahan et al (2020) as well as Neill and Kleinsmith (2016).…”

“…To compare the effects obtained in the current study examining temporal and sequential negative priming in the auditory modality ( N = 119) with effects obtained in the visual modality (N = 183) by Kahan et al (2020), a combined analysis of the auditory and visual data was conducted for each critical comparison (confounded trials, isolated temporal position analyses, and sequential position analyses). The accuracy and RT data were analysed in two separate 2 (modality: auditory vs. visual) by 2 (speed: fast–fast vs. slow–slow) by 2 (negative priming: ignored repetition vs. control) mixed ANOVAs.…”

“…In Kahan et al (2020), participants were shown a series of four boxes in the centre of the screen with one of the boxes containing a target stimulus (i.e., an X) and another containing a non-target item (i.e., an O). The task was to report “when” in the sequence the target was shown.…”