Priming

The occurrence that previous experience with a stimulus item can establish a perceptual set† within an individual and concerns an increased sensitivity to certain stimuli due to this prior experience. For example, staying up late alone and watching a very striking horror film may then provoke the viewer to ‘hear’ scary noises which might not have been disconcerting (or indeed attended to) if a comedy had been seen or no movie at all. The horror flick primed this reaction to the environment.

The effect seems to take place outside of consciousness and thus is different from memory which relies upon the direct retrieval of information – such direct retrieval utilizes explicit memory, while priming depends upon implicit memory.

In cognitive psychology, priming is understood as the triggering of specific memories and responses by a specific cue, for example, the word ‘river’ will prime one meaning of ‘bank’ while ‘money’ primes another. Because priming is believed to occur outside of awareness, even though there can be a failure to recognize words or symbols previously encountered, when primed, by say the first three letters, a positive response will frequently be elicited.

More generally, ‘priming’ is the process of presenting an event or episode which prepares a system for functioning.

†  Perceptual set

Prepares actors to perceive things in a certain way.

(see also: cue, Observer effect, demand characteristics, schema)