Controlled processing in single-prime negative priming.

Negative priming refers to delayed responses to previously ignored distractors. Unlike conventional studies of negative priming in which the attentional selection of a target against its distractors is required in prime trials (prime-selection negative priming), in single-prime negative priming, a prime stimulus is presented briefly. To further investigate the nature of single-prime negative priming, its properties were examined. In Experiment 1, the proportion of repetition was varied. The effect of single-prime negative priming was reduced when the proportion of repetition was high. In addition, Experiment 2 showed that high memory load could hamper the single-prime negative priming effect. Overall, the current study indicates controlled processing in single-prime negative priming and similarities between single-prime negative priming and prime-selection negative priming.