Subliminal priming with nearly perfect performance in the prime-classification task

Finkbeiner · Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics · 2011 · cognitive-psychology · 10.3758/s13414-011-0088-8 · record Finkbeiner2011-subliminal-priming-with-nearly-perfect-perfo
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Where this record's text came from. faceted 2026-08 by reading the locally held text (pdftext); every evidence string verified as an exact substring of that text before merging. Claim type is existence rather than critique: although the article is framed as a reply to Pratte and Rouder, its contribution is a positive demonstration that priming occurs under controlled task difficulty; the critique component is captured by the two contradicts relations. Replication status is contested because the paper's central claim stands in direct, explicit opposition to a published result on the same question. Two contradicts relations share a target because the paper states the disagreement twice with different content (empirical support vs. masking-procedure explanation). Extraction artefacts of the pdftext source ('targetrelated', 'targetand', 'targetclassification') are the source's own line-break joins and were copied unaltered; several conclusion sentences in this file are word-scrambled by the extractor and were avoided. 2026-08-19 and 2026-08-25 schema-0.3 passes: every quote verified as an exact substring of the staged text and anchored at merge time; concept terms verified present; every edge endpoint an existing node.
How to read this page. The article itself is not reproduced here — this paper is not cleared for redistribution, so what follows is the tag layer alone. The evidence sentences are withheld with the article. The table at the foot lists every tag the record carries; each row names the facet it belongs to, and the whose words column says whether the tag records the paper's own wording or the tagger's sentence about the paper. Every tag links to each other paper in the corpus carrying it. The machine-readable edition of the same thing is the TEI file beside this one, where the tags live in standOff, and the article is at its publisher via the link below. When we have changed our mind. Some entries in the table begin with a word in capitals and the reason for it. EVIDENCE CORRECTED — the finding still stands, but we had quoted the wrong sentence from the paper, and the quotation has been replaced with the right one. RETRACTED — the entry itself was wrong; it stays on the page, marked, with the reason, rather than being deleted. WITHDRAWN AND REPLACED — the entry was wrong, and a corrected version of it appears in the entries below. Each mark carries its own reason, in brackets, because the reasons differ from one entry to the next. An entry we have WITHDRAWN is removed from this page and kept in the record, with its reason. A line reading Audit and a date is a later re-reading of the entry against its whole sentence: DOUBTFUL means it was kept, and the reason says what is loose about it. Quotation marks inside the tagger's sentence. Where a tag is the tagger's own sentence, a phrase in quotation marks inside it is borrowed from the paper — the tagger's wording around it is not. The paper's own sentence is the evidence quote for that row; on this page it is withheld with the article, and the article is at its publisher. Nothing inside quotation marks anywhere on this page is ours: if it is quoted, it is the paper's. Whose words a concept carries. A concept entry records a term the paper itself uses, so the term, the sense given for it, and its evidence are the paper's own words, quoted where the paper fixes them. This is the opposite of a sense entry in the tag table, which is the tagger's sentence about how the paper uses a term. Where a concept entry could not be grounded in the paper's words, the entry says so on its own row.
Other fields define these differently the same word, defined another way in another discipline
confidence interval 2 fields

Tags on this paper

Every tag the record carries, each linking to every other paper in the corpus that carries it. A tag appears here whether or not its words occur in the article — the spans below are only the ones a sentence in this paper licenses. Of the 4 concept tags on this paper, all 4 are grounded in a quoted sentence. All carry the tagger's gloss of what the term means in this paper, which is not something the article can license.
subliminal priming prime-classification task task difficulty task-difficulty artifact using a backward mask that is visually similar to the prime (a letter string masking a letter-string prime) suppresses prime identity strongly enough to reach chance-level identification at durations that still produce priming, whereas dissimilar and repeated masks let the prime pop out differences in masking procedure, rather than differences in control of task difficulty, are what drive the opposite conclusions of the two studies when primes and targets share a stimulus set, learned stimulus-response mappings can be triggered automatically by an unseen prime, so apparent above-chance prime classification may reflect nonconscious motor activation rather than awareness subliminal priming effect target-classification task mass-at-chance model null-sensitivity problem prime duration prime type RTs Prime Color prime–target SOA repeated-measures ANOVA repeated measures ANOVA one-sample t-test traditional one-sample t test paired-samples t-test paired-samples t test (twotailed) Bayes factor Bayes factor calculator hierarchical Bayesian model hierarchical model within the Bayesian framework posterior probability null-hypothesis significance testing standard null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST) signal-detection sensitivity (d-prime) LOESS local regression fitted polynomial (LOESS) confidence interval behavioural-experiment

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relation to other workclaim_relationshow this paper stands to another: agrees, contradicts, extends, qualifies
claim typeclaim_typethe shape of the claim: existence, mechanism, method, critique, prediction, null
concept edgeconcept_edgesan asserted relation between two concepts, with the sentence asserting it
conceptconceptsan idea the paper works with, quoted where the paper uses it
content tagcontent_tagsa finding, definition, quantity, statistic or variable named in the paper
controlcontrolsan experiment run to eliminate a rival explanation
limitationlimitationswhat the paper says its evidence cannot support
mechanismmechanismshow the reported effect is said to come about
methodmethodhow the paper produced its evidence
phenomenonphenomenonthe effect or regularity under study
sensesensesa distinct use of a term, quoted where the paper fixes it

The paper

The full text is not reproduced here. This article is not cleared for redistribution, so the page carries the tag layer only. Its evidence sentences are withheld; the grounding status remains with each tag, and the article itself is at https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-011-0088-8. The reading view exists for the papers whose licence permits it.

Every tag on this page

claim_relations 4 · claim_type 1 · concept_edges 1 · concepts 4 · content_tags 35 · controls 1 · limitations 3 · mechanisms 3 · method 1 · phenomenon 1 · senses 4

Relations on this page carry a quotation for the claim. Where a relation was separately evidenced — and so tested against the vocabulary for its type — the row says so; none of 1 relation here carry that mark. The rest are the tagger’s reading of the sentence quoted beside them.

facettagfieldconf.whose words
claim_typeexistence
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claim_typethe paper's words
phenomenonsubliminal priming
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phenomenonthe paper's words
methodbehavioural-experiment
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methodthe paper's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[0]the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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status: the paper's own words: We suggest that
mechanisms[1]the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[2]the tagger's words
limitationsEven with 240 prime-classification trials the design remains open to the low-power criticism levelled at subliminal priming studies.
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limitations[0]the tagger's words
limitationsThe prime-classification measure used here may itself have been insufficiently sensitive to prime awareness.
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limitations[1]the tagger's words
limitationsThe .95 posterior criterion used to declare subliminality may be too strict, and the priming result is also reported under a relaxed .90 criterion.
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limitations[2]the tagger's words
controlsthe letters in the backward mask were randomly repositioned on every trial
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eliminates: that the masking effect is specific to one mask arrangement rather than to masking as such · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): held
controls[0]0.95the tagger's words
conceptssubliminal priming
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concepts[0]0.95the paper's words
conceptsprime-classification task
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concepts[1]0.95the paper's words
conceptstask difficulty
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concepts[2]0.95the paper's words
conceptstask-difficulty artifact
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concepts[3]0.95the paper's words
sensesTHE CRITERION STATED AS AN IF-THEN, WHICH IS WORTH HOLDING VERBATIM: `If, in a separate task that assesses PRIME AWARENESS, subjects are not able to identify the prime stimuli at BETTER THAN CHANCE levels (i.e., d' is not statistically different from zero), then subliminal priming is said to have occurred.` `is said to have occurred` - the phenomenon is the conjunction of two measurements, and the paper is explicit that the word is licensed by the second one. dehaene1998 and holcomb2005 argue about WHAT was processed without awareness; this record is about what licenses the word `subliminal` at all, which is the prior question and the corpus had no clean statement of it
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senses[0]0.95the tagger's words
sensesAND THE CRITIQUE IT ANSWERS IS AN ATTACK ON THE MEASUREMENT, NOT ON THE EFFECT: `In a recent critique of subliminal priming, Pratte and Rouder (2009) suggested that previous claims of subliminal priming may have been due to A failure to control the task difficulty between the experiment proper and the prime-classification task.` If the certifying task is simply harder, chance performance on it certifies nothing. That is the strongest form of methodological criticism - it does not dispute a result, it disputes what the result is evidence OF - and a corpus that records priming findings without recording this cannot represent why the literature is contested
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senses[1]0.95the tagger's words
sensesTHE ANSWER IS BUILT INTO THE STIMULUS RATHER THAN ARGUED IN A DISCUSSION - PRINT THE PRIMES IN COLOUR: `Quotation withheld.` 92.1% on colour, chance on identity, same stimulus, same trial, within subject. The colour report proves the task was easy and the subject was attending, so the identity failure cannot be blamed on difficulty. A control made of the stimulus, not of an argument - and the cleanest reply to an artifact objection I have tagged
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senses[2]0.95the tagger's words
sensesAND A FOOTNOTE CARRIES THE STRONGEST SENTENCE IN THE PAPER: `The primes that were presented for 40 to ~60 ms were VISIBLE (d' > 2.0); the primes presented for LESS THAN 40 ms were NOT VISIBLE (d' not different from zero), and yet they produced reliable priming effects.` Visible primes prime and invisible primes prime. So the priming function and the awareness function are separable, and a study that finds priming has learned nothing about awareness until it measures awareness separately - which is the whole argument of this paper, stated in a footnote about a different experiment
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senses[3]0.95the tagger's words
claim_relationscontradicts → Pratte and Rouder (2009)
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claim_relations[0]the tagger's words
claim_relationscontradicts → Pratte and Rouder (2009)
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claim_relations[1]the tagger's words
claim_relationsreplicates → Finkbeiner & Forster (2008); Kouider & Dehaene (2007)
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claim_relations[2]the tagger's words
claim_relationsbuilds-on → Morey et al. (2008) mass-at-chance (MAC) model
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claim_relations[3]the tagger's words
concept_edgessubliminal priming —distinct-from→ task-difficulty artifact
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strength of the relation: 0.9 · note: THE RESULT, AND 'distinct-from' IS DOING REAL WORK HERE. The artifact was proposed as an ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION of subliminal priming; this record separates them by controlling the artifact and keeping the effect. So the edge records not that two concepts differ, but that one was offered as the other and failed. Weight 0.9 rather than 0.95 because the paper itself attributes the contrast with Pratte and Rouder to 'important differences…' - which is a second unresolved difference between the labs, stated by the author.
concept_edges[2]0.95the tagger's words
content_tagsrepeated-measures ANOVA
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content_tags.statistics[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsone-sample t-test
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content_tags.statistics[1]the tagger's words
content_tagspaired-samples t-test
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content_tags.statistics[2]the tagger's words
content_tagsBayes factor
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also in: Bayes factor
content_tags.statistics[3]the tagger's words
content_tagshierarchical Bayesian model
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content_tags.statistics[4]the tagger's words
content_tagsposterior probability
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content_tags.statistics[5]the tagger's words
content_tagsnull-hypothesis significance testing
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content_tags.statistics[6]the tagger's words
content_tagssignal-detection sensitivity (d-prime)
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content_tags.statistics[7]the tagger's words
content_tagsLOESS local regression
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content_tags.statistics[8]the tagger's words
content_tagsconfidence interval
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content_tags.statistics[9]the tagger's words
content_tagsReliable masked congruence priming was obtained at both 40 ms and 50 ms prime durations.
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content_tags.findings[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsPresenting primes in colour let subjects report the prime's colour almost as accurately as they classified targets, which the author takes as successful equating of difficulty across the two tasks.
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content_tags.findings[1]the tagger's words
content_tagsPrime identification was 51.8%, not above chance, with 40-ms primes and 55.6%, above chance, with 50-ms primes.
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content_tags.findings[2]the tagger's words
content_tagsSubliminality was confirmed for 16 of 21 subjects with 40-ms primes but for only 1 with 50-ms primes.
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content_tags.findings[3]the tagger's words
content_tagsRestricting the priming analysis to only those subject-by-duration cells whose subliminality was confirmed still yielded a significant priming effect.
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content_tags.findings[4]the tagger's words
content_tagsThe priming effect did not decrease as the criterion for subliminality increased.
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content_tags.findings[5]the tagger's words
content_tagsThe authors conclude subliminal priming can be observed even when guarding against the task-difficulty artifact.
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content_tags.findings[6]the tagger's words
content_tagssubliminal priming effect
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content_tags.definitions[0]the tagger's words
content_tagstarget-classification task
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content_tags.definitions[1]the tagger's words
content_tagstask-difficulty artifact
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content_tags.definitions[2]the tagger's words
content_tagsmass-at-chance model
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content_tags.definitions[3]the tagger's words
content_tagsnull-sensitivity problem
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content_tags.definitions[4]the tagger's words
content_tagsprime duration
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content_tags.variables[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsprime type
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also in: prime type
content_tags.variables[1]the tagger's words
content_tagsRTs
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also in: RTs
content_tags.variables[3]the tagger's words
content_tagsPrime Color
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also in: Prime Color
content_tags.variables[5]the tagger's words
content_tagsprime–target SOA
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content_tags.variables[6]the tagger's words
content_tagsM = 92.1% — mean accuracy of reporting the prime's colour in the prime-classification task
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content_tags.quantities[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsboth greater than 90% — colour-report accuracy and target-classification accuracy, showing the two tasks were matched for difficulty
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content_tags.quantities[1]the tagger's words
content_tags51.8% ... 55.6% — prime identity accuracy at 40 ms and at 50 ms prime durations
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content_tags.quantities[2]the tagger's words
content_tags16 of the 21 — subjects judged to be performing at chance on prime identity with 40-ms primes by the MAC model
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content_tags.quantities[3]the tagger's words
content_tags21 — number of participants in the experiment
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content_tags.quantities[4]the tagger's words
content_tagsBayes factor of 0.26 — Bayes factor for the priming effect among subliminality-confirmed cells, i.e. the alternative is 3.85 times more likely than the null
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content_tags.quantities[5]the tagger's words
content_tags9:1 ... 16:1 — odds in favour of subliminality and the resulting odds in favour of priming under the relaxed .90 criterion
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content_tags.quantities[6]the tagger's words
content_tagsapproximately 570 — prime-classification trials that would be needed, at n = 21 and 52% true performance, to keep the chance of wrongly accepting the null below 5%
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content_tags.quantities[7]the tagger's words

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