counterpriming

Counterpriming is a phenomenon in cognitive psychology in which exposure to a prime stimulus produces the opposite or reduced influence on a subsequent target than would be expected from standard priming effects. In typical priming, a related prime speeds responses to a related target. Counterpriming, by contrast, can slow responses or diminish facilitation when the prime elicits an automatic activation that must be overridden by task demands, or when the prime and the required response are in opposition.

The effect is often studied using masked or subliminal priming paradigms, semantic or perceptual tasks, and varying response mappings. In experiments, a related prime might normally speed a lexical decision or categorization, but under counterpriming conditions the subsequent target is processed more slowly or less accurately. Factors that influence counterpriming include the visibility of the prime, the stimulus onset asynchrony, the type of relation between prime and target, and whether the task requires conflicting responses.

Proposed mechanisms emphasize the role of top-down control and response inhibition. When participants must suppress an automatic response triggered by the prime, or when strategic task demands conflict with the automatic activation, counterpriming can emerge. This contrasts with simple automatic facilitation and highlights interactions between rapid, unconscious activation and deliberate control processes.

Counterpriming has implications for theories of automaticity, attention, and memory, illustrating that priming effects are not unidirectional and can be modulated by higher-level cognitive control.