Investigation of variables affecting positive and negative priming measured by facial recognition performance as sub / supra threshold

The purpose of this study was to offer a holistic examination of certain independent variables (proporties of priming and target stimulus, congruency level, sub-threshold presentation and emotion) that have the potential of influencing both positive and negative (and semi-negative) priming, which there were controversial findings in the literature. In line with this purpose, three experiments were designed. The aim of Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 was to examine the influence of faces, words, and shapes on positive and negative priming under sub-threshold and suprathreshold conditions. The aim of the Experiment 3 was to examine the influence of priming stimulus on priming types in case a few of the characteristics (face and emotion on face) of the stimulus were consistent/inconsistent. The study had been conducted with a total of 150 participants equally distributed among three Experiments. In Experiment 1, 3 (Type of stimuli: Face, Shape, Word) x 3 (Type of Priming: Positive Priming, Semi-negative Priming, Control) x 2 (Type of Presentation: Sub-threshold, Supra-threshold) repeated measure experimental design suitable, in Experiment 2, 3 (Type of stimuli: Face, Shape, Word) x 4 (Type of Priming: Positive Priming, Semi-negative Priming, Negative Priming, Control) x 2 (Type of Presentation: Sub-threshold, Supra-threshold) repeated measure experimental design suitable, and in Experiment 3, 3 (Congruency: Face Congruent, Face Non-congruent, Control) x 3 (Emotional Face Congruency: Emotion Congruent, Emotion Non-congruent, Control) x 3 (Emotion of Priming Stimulus: Happy, Angry, Neutral) repeated measures experimental design suitable ANOVA was conducted. In the experiments, the positive, negative, and semi-negative priming has been shown experimentally in terms of recognition. This finding is important in showing the continuity of the cognitive priming process. Besides, it has been found out as a result of the findings derived from Experiment 1 and 2 that the sub-threshold presentation of priming words provided better advantage than both positive and negative priming. The Experiment 3 has demonstrated that there was no difference between the face and its emotion in terms of priming in face recognition.