Inhibition From Related Primes in Recognition Memory

In three experiments, after studying a blocked-categorized word list, subjects were given a speeded yes/no recognition test in which certain critical test items were preceded by various priming manipulations. The "primes" were other test items (both targets and lures) from the same category as the critical item. When a prime immediately preceded the critical item, reaction times (RTs) were faster than when a prime was separated from the critical item by two test items from some other category, thereby demonstrating facilitation from recency of semantic priming. However, RTs were slower when six primes preceded a critical target than when two primes preceded it. This inhibition caused by increasing the number of semantically related primes occurred whether .these primes were presented randomly or grouped together but did not occur when the critical item was a lure. Also, RTs were faster to both critical targets and lures when they were immediately preceded by a target rather than a lure, thereby demonstrating a facilitation from episodic priming. The critical challenge to theory posed by these data is to account for the observation that whereas recent presentation of a single semantically related prime produces facilitation, increasing the number of these related primes produces inhibition.