Attentional demand and memory retrieval in negative priming.

Negative priming refers to delayed response to previous distractors, and can reflect the operation of attentional selection in prime trials. One important feature of negative priming is that it is modulated by the characteristics of probe trials. The current study manipulated competition from probe distractors and prime-probe similarity to examine the effects of attentional demand and memory retrieval in probe trials. The results demonstrated that the effects of attentional demand and memory retrieval on negative priming were dynamic. Distractor competition in probe trials affected negative priming in Experiment 1, and prime-probe similarity affected negative priming in Experiment 2. Moreover, negative priming in Experiment 3 was observed either when competition from probe distractors was strong or when identical spatial layouts were used in prime-probe couplets. Taken together, either competition from probe distractors or prime-probe similarity of spatial layouts was critical to the manifestation of negative priming at one time. Implications for distractor inhibition and memory retrieval in negative priming were discussed.