Locus of single-prime negative priming: The role of perceptual form

• The present study investigated the locus of single-prime negative priming.
• Merely repeating the response or meaning did not produce negative priming.
• Single-prime negative priming occurred when the perceptual form was repeated.

Single-prime negative priming refers to the phenomenon in which after a single prime word is briefly presented, repeating it as the probe target results in a delay in responding to the target. The present study investigated the locus of this negative priming effect. Experiment 1 showed that repeating the identity of the prime produced a negative priming effect but merely repeating the response of the prime did not. Experiment 2 showed that the negative priming effect transformed into positive priming when the probe distractor was absent. Experiments 3 and 4 further revealed that single-prime negative priming was observed when the perceptual form was repeated. Taken together, these results suggest that single-prime negative priming involves a perceptual locus.