Elsevier

Consciousness and Cognition

Volume 8, Issue 3, September 1999, Pages 271-284
Consciousness and Cognition

Regular Article
Conjoint Dissociations Reveal Involuntary “Perceptual” Priming from Generating at Study

https://doi.org/10.1006/ccog.1999.0382Get rights and content

Abstract

Incidental perceptual memory tests reveal priming when words are generated orally from a semantic cue at study, and this priming could reflect contamination by voluntary retrieval. We tested this hypothesis using a generate condition and two read conditions that differed in depth of processing (read-phonemic vs read-semantic). An intentional word-stem completion test showed an advantage for the read-semantic over the generate condition and an advantage for the generate over the read-phonemic condition, and completion times were longer than in a control test, prior to which there was no study phase. An incidental word-stem completion test showed equivalent priming for the read-semantic and read-phonemic study conditions, despite considerable power, and completion times were no longer than control, indicating that retrieval was involuntary, and insensitive to prior conceptual processing. The generate condition produced less priming than the read conditions, but significant priming nonetheless. The results show that priming from generating can be involuntary and suggest that lexical processes are responsible. They are also the first results conjointly showing a crossed double dissociation, a single dissociation, and a parallel effect across memory tests with identical physical retrieval cues.

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      The longer RTs in the explicit group than in the baseline group confirm that conscious retrieval takes longer to complete than automatic retrieval (Richardson-Klavehn & Gardiner, 1995, 1998). The RTs in the speeded response group were equivalent to those in the baseline group and faster than those in the explicit group, indicating that the speeded response group did not switch to a conscious retrieval strategy when presented stems of previously studied items (Richardson-Klavehn, Clarke, & Gardiner, 1999; Richardson-Klavehn & Gardiner, 1998). The RT data from all three experiments reported here lead to exactly the same conclusion.

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