Psychologisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Hauptstrasse 47-51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
Mem Cognit. 2011 May;39(4):557-72. doi: 10.3758/s13421-010-0056-x.
If priming effects serve an adaptive function, they have to be both robust and flexible. In four experiments, we demonstrated regular evaluative-priming effects for relatively long stimulus-onset asynchronies, which can, however, be eliminated or reversed strategically. When participants responded to both primes and targets, rather than only to targets, the standard congruity effect disappeared. In Experiments 1a-1c, this result was regularly obtained, independently of the prime response (valence or gender classification) and the response mode (pronunciation or keystroke). In Experiment 2, we showed that once the default congruity effect was eliminated, strategic-priming effects reflected the statistical contingency between prime valence and target valence. Positive contingencies produced congruity, whereas negative contingencies produced equally strong incongruity effects. Altogether, these findings are consistent with an adaptive-cognitive perspective, which highlights the role of flexible strategic processes in working memory as opposed to fixed structures in semantic long-term memory or in the sensorimotor system.
如果启动效应具有适应性功能，那么它们必须既强大又灵活。在四项实验中，我们证明了相对长的刺激起始时距的规则评价启动效应，但这些效应可以通过策略性地消除或反转。当参与者对启动刺激和目标刺激都做出反应，而不仅仅是对目标刺激做出反应时，标准的一致性效应就会消失。在实验 1a-1c 中，无论启动刺激的反应（褒贬或性别分类）和反应模式（发音或按键）如何，这个结果都得到了一致的体现。在实验 2 中，我们表明，一旦默认的一致性效应被消除，策略性启动效应反映了启动刺激的效价和目标刺激的效价之间的统计关联。积极的关联产生一致性，而消极的关联则产生同样强烈的不一致性效应。总之，这些发现与自适应认知观点一致，该观点强调了工作记忆中灵活的策略性过程的作用，而不是语义长期记忆或感觉运动系统中的固定结构。
