Cognitive approach KC4: cognitive priming Flashcards
cognitive priming
when exposure to one stimulus (the prime) affects our response to a later related stimulus
what are the 3 types of priming?
repetition, semantic and associative
repetition priming
when the encounter see/hear the prime, we process it faster when we see or hear it again than we otherwise would have done
semantic priming
semantic refers to two stimuli meaning the same thing or having similar features. you process a stimulus faster because you earlier encountered a prime that was similar in meaning. eg, you hear ‘computer’ (the prime). you are now primed to notice and process faster semantically similar words, such as ‘laptop’
associative priming
the prime and the later stimulus are associated but not semantically. they may be usually paired together in everyday experience. eg, you hear the word ‘fish’ (the prime). you are now primed to notice anything usually paired with this in memory. eg, ‘chips’
name 1 strength of cognitive priming
research to support
priming can help us to understand and prevent cognitive causes of obesity. eg, Harris found that exposure to food adverts increased how many snacks people ate. this suggests that the content of an advert can prime eating behaviour. by understanding the effects of priming we may be able to stop this influence or direct the influence towards healthy eating instead. therefore, education and legislation could help to prevent obesity
name 1 limitation of cognitive priming
lack of replication
one limitation of cognitive priming is that the research it is based on is difficult to replicate. replication is a key feature of science. a study should be able to be repeated using the same procedure. if the same results are produced it suggests the results are reliable (and not a fluke) and adds validity to the concept of priming. however, replications of priming studies often produce different results. this questions the reliability and validity of the theory of cognitive priming
