Mayr, S. , Möller, M. & Buchner, A.
Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf
The visuospatial negative priming effect-that is, the slowed-down responding to a previously ignored location-is partly due to response inhibition associated with the previously ignored location. We tested whether response inhibition underlies spatial negative priming in the auditory modality as well. 78 participants localized a target sound while ignoring a simultaneous distractor sound at another location. Sounds were presented from one of 8 locations arranged in a semicircle around the participant. Pairs of adjacent locations were associated with the same response. In location-repeated trials, the probe target sound was played from the same location as the previously ignored prime sound. In response-repeated trials, prime distractor and probe target were played from different locations but were associated with the same response. In control trials, prime distractor and probe target neither shared location nor response. A response inhibition account predicts slowed-down responding when the response associated with the prime distractor has to be executed in the probe. There was no evidence of response inhibition in audition. Instead, negative priming depended on whether the sound at the repeatedly occupied location changed identity between prime and probe. This latter result replicates earlier findings and supports the feature-mismatch hypothesis.