Priming and the Predictability of Contextual Information

Abstract

Past research has indicated that repetition priming is disrupted by variable contextual information such as word-to-word changes in voice. In three experiments, we examined whether subjects' prediction of contextual changes could attenuate this effect. Predictability of contextual changes was accomplished either by presenting speakers' voices in a fixed sequential order or by giving subjects prior knowledge of which voice would produce the next word. In these experiments, predictability attenuated the disruptive effect that changes in voice had on priming, suggesting the processes which underlie this memory phenomenon are modulated by expectations that selectively optimize subjects' processing of incoming information.