Participants are asked to judge whether a string of letters forms a word in English. The first string they receive is the word violin. On a subsequent list of words, results show that the participants are substantially faster at answering "Yes" to the word piano than to the word toilet or basket. What does this result exemplify?
A) episodic memory
B) mental set
C) automatization
D) semantic priming

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This result exemplifies semantic priming, which occurs when the perception of one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus with which it is semantically related. In this case, the prior presentation of the word "violin" primes the related concept of musical instruments, making it easier for participants to quickly recognize "piano" as a word. The slower response times for "toilet" and "basket" suggest that they were not semantically related to the priming stimulus, leading to slower processing times.

Participants Are Asked to Judge Whether a String of Letters