1. What is Priming?
在心理学里,启动(priming)指个体对感受到的某个刺激的无意识加工(启动刺激),会促进对随后呈现刺激的加工(目标刺激或靶刺激)。
前后两个刺激之间应该有一些共同的属性,它们可以是知觉的,语义的或者是概念的。前后两个刺激属于同种模态时启动效应最好(视觉-视觉)。但不同模态的两种刺激也可以诱发启动效应(听觉-视觉)。
启动的这种促进(accessibility)作用,一般可以从知觉,认知和行为的角度进行解释。认知方面,有人认为启动是一种内隐记忆效应(an implicit memory effect)(CTI Reviews, LEARNING and MEMORY)。Bargh认为,启动效应的本质是外在环境刺激和内在的这些环境刺激对应表征之间的联结。
Poldrack 2005.
Acquisition of a new skill is generally associated with a decrease in the need for effortful control over performance, leading to the
development of automaticity. Automaticity by definition has been achieved when performance of a primary task isminimally affected by
other ongoing tasks. The neural basis of automaticity was examined by testing subjects in a serial reaction time (SRT) task under both
single-task and dual-task conditions. The diminishing cost of dual-task performance was used as an index for automaticity. Subjects
performed the SRT task during two functional magnetic imaging sessions separated by 3 h of behavioral training over multiple days.
Behavioral data showed that, by the end of testing, subjects had automated performance of the SRT task. Before behavioral training,
performance of the SRT task concurrently with the secondary task elicited activation in a wide network of frontal and striatal regions, as
well as parietal lobe. After extensive behavioral training, dual-task performance showed comparatively less activity in bilateral ventral
premotor regions, right middle frontal gyrus, and right caudate body; activity in other prefrontal and striatal regions decreased equally
for single-task and dual-task conditions. These data suggest that lateral and dorsolateral prefrontal regions, and their corresponding
striatal targets, subserve the executive processes involved in novice dual-task performance. The results also showed that supplementary
motor area and putamen/globus pallidus regions showed training-related decreases for sequence conditions but not for random conditions, confirming the role of these regions in the representation of learned motor sequences.
Key words: basal ganglia; learning; prefrontal; executive control; automaticity; sequence learning