Perceptual interactions between primes, masks, and targets: Further evidence for object updating

Abstract

The negative compatibility effect (NCE) is the finding that, under certain conditions, responses to targets are faster when preceded by incompatible primes than when preceded by compatible primes and this effect now appears to be caused, at least in part, by facilitation resulting from perceptual interactions between the prime, mask, and target when task-relevant masks are used (Lleras & Enns, 2004, 2005, 2006). The current experiment reports a new methodology that allows us to systematically explore the ways in which these perceptual effects influence reaction times and error rates. The data indicate that mask–target overlap, mask–prime overlap, and having a task-relevant prime all affect performance in experiments examining the NCE. In addition, our data provide additional support that object-based updating contributes to the NCE when perceptual interactions between stimuli are likely.

Keywords:

• Arrow priming
• Category priming
• Masked priming
• Negative compatibility effect
• Object updating

Notes

¹Log RTs were used to reduce the effects of long outliers but geometric means are reported in the tables, figure, and text so that the numbers appear in a millisecond timescale.

²We note though that facilitation-based theories can only account for the data reported here if these theories do not also include a push-and-pull mechanism where speeded responses on incompatible trials in turn causes slowed responses on compatible trials. If a facilitation-based theory were to include a push-and-pull mechanism of this sort then it would not be able to explain why the compatible_-PT and incompatible_-T conditions do not differ. However, no push-and-pull mechanism of this sort is incorporated into the object-updating account that was forwarded by Lleras and Enns (2004) and as such this model is consistent with the data reported here.