Study\u2013test congruence of response levels in item stimulus\u2013response priming

Abstract

We investigated stimulus–response (S–R) memory links during object priming using a binary associative size judgement paradigm. At study, participants decided which of two objects was bigger in real life and, at test, made the same or the reverse judgement. We examined the effects of response congruence on item S–R priming in the associative paradigm. In Experiment 1, a task reversal manipulation had minimal impact on RT priming when classifications were congruent for both recombined objects between study and test. Experiment 2 found that RT priming was more disrupted by classification incongruence of the selected than of the nonselected item alone, with incongruence of the nonselected object having no effect on RTs. Experiment 3, however, found that classification incongruence of both items eliminated RT priming, indicating that a significant effect of classification incongruence for the nonselected item is only evident if both items are classification-incongruent. Finally, across all experiments, we found that accuracy was more sensitive than RTs to decision/action incongruence. We interpret these findings in light of a two-stream account of S–R priming, and suggest a few extensions to account for interactions between S–R links of recombined items.