Abstract
Traditional theories of backward priming account only for the priming effects found at long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Here, we suggest that the presence of backward priming at short SOAs may be related to the integrative role of the cerebellum. Previous research has shown that the right cerebellum is involved in forward associative priming. Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals some activation of the left cerebellar hemisphere during backward priming; but what this activation represents is unclear. Here we explore this issue using continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) and associative priming in a lexical decision task. We tested the hypothesis that the left cerebellum plays a role in backward priming and that this is dissociated from the role of the right cerebellum in forward priming. Before and after cTBS was applied to their left and right cerebellar hemispheres, participants completed a lexical decision task. Although we did not replicate the forward priming effect reported in the literature, we did find a significant increase in backward priming after left relative to right cerebellar cTBS. We consider how theories of cerebellar function in the motor domain can be extended to language and cognitive models of backward priming.
Highlights
In cognitive neuroscience, associative priming is often used to understand how the brain encodes two events taking place in a sequence
We examined the role of the cerebellum in both backward and forward priming with a short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) during a lexical decision task
We investigated the role of the cerebellum in backward associative priming at short SOAs in a lexical decision task
Summary
Associative priming is often used to understand how the brain encodes two events taking place in a sequence. It is commonly understood that words are represented through associative networks and that the presentation of the prime word (DOG) automatically spreads its activation to those units most closely linked to it (e.g. BONE). When the second word appears, overall responses are facilitated due to its higher level of activation compared to unrelated ones (e.g. ORANGE). This spread of activation is automatic in nature and is considered not to be based on expectancies [2], explaining why this effect appears even when the words are presented with a very short interval between them, from a 50- to a 360-ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) [3, 4]. At long SOAs (> 500 ms), priming effects are more commonly attributed to strategic, top–down activation of expected words in memory [1]
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