Latent inhibition, habituation, and sensory preconditioning: a test of priming in short-term memory.

Four experiments tested priming in short-term memory as a model for latent inhibition and habituation. The model postulates that the two phenomena results from reduced processing when a representation of the target stimulus is already active (primed) in short-term memory at the time of its presentation. Priming is assumed to depend on the integrity of an association formed between the contextual stimuli and the conditional stimulus (CS) during exposure. Using a procedure that should have overshadowed the context, Experiment 1 found that latent inhibition and habituation were nevertheless maintained when a second CS of either equal or shorter duration overlapped with the target during exposure. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 showed that sensory preconditioning as well as habituation and latent inhibition were obtained with compound exposure, providing reasonable evidence that the added CS was indeed processed along with the target during exposure. These results are interpreted as being inconsistent with the priming model.