Priming

Priming is a psychological phenomenon in which exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a later stimulus, often without conscious intention or awareness. It is a form of implicit memory, reflected in faster processing or more accurate judgments for previously encountered information.

Priming is typically categorized as perceptual priming, conceptual (semantic) priming, or lexical priming. Perceptual priming depends on the physical form of the stimulus (shape, color, letters) and is thought to rely on sensory representations. Conceptual priming depends on the meaning or category of the stimulus and engages semantic networks. Repetition priming is observed when the same item is encountered again, while associative priming occurs when a related item facilitates processing.

The leading explanations involve spreading activation within a network of representations or residual activation that remains after initial exposure. This makes related representations more accessible, leading to faster or more accurate responses on subsequent tasks. Priming can be measured with implicit memory tasks such as word-stem completion, lexical decision, and perceptual identification, in which primed items show reduced reaction times or higher accuracy compared with unprimed items.

Priming has been studied across modalities and populations, including visual, auditory, and lexical domains, and in both healthy individuals and clinical groups. It has applications in education, advertising, and cognitive rehabilitation, but effects are often modest and sensitive to context, task demands, and awareness. Debates continue regarding the extent to which priming reflects unconscious processing versus strategic use of available information.