Primes and targets of different strengths in animal phobia: A generalized accumulator model T Schmidt, A Haberkamp |
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Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
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| In response priming tasks, speeded responses are performed toward target stimuli preceded by prime stimuli. Responses are slower and error rates are higher when prime and target are assigned to different responses, compared to assignment to the same response, and those priming effects increase with prime-target SOA. Here, we generalize Vorberg et al.'s (2003, PNAS 100, 6275-80) accumulator model of response priming, where response activation is controlled exclusively by the prime until target onset, and then taken over by the actual target. Priming thus occurs by motor conflict because a response-inconsistent prime can temporarily drive the process towards the incorrect response. While the original model assumed prime and target signals to be identical in strength, we allow different rates of response activation (cf. Mattler & Palmer, 2012, Cognition 123, 347-360). We use the model to quantify how spider-fearful, snake-fearful, and control participants differ in their response activations by fear-related vs. neutral images of primes or targets. Our model correctly predicts that priming effects increase with prime strength but decrease with target strength, and that overall response times decrease with target strength, consistent with the idea that fear-related stimuli provide more vigorous response activation than neutral ones. |
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