Visibility predicts priming within but not between people: a cautionary tale for studies of cognitive individual differences

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that within-subject priming effects depend on stimulus visibility, while between-subject differences do not, highlighting the importance of cautious interpretation in individual differences research.

Contribution

The paper provides empirical evidence that between-subject variability in priming is independent of stimulus visibility, challenging assumptions in cognitive individual differences studies.

Findings

Within-subject priming transitions from reversed to positive with visibility

No correlation between prime discrimination ability and priming across individuals

Between-subject variability arises from different sources than stimulus manipulations

Abstract

With resurgent interest in individual differences in perception, cognition and behavioural control, as early indicators of disease, endophenotypes, or a means to relate brain structure to function, behavioural tasks are increasingly being transferred from within-subject settings to between-group or correlational designs. The assumption is that where we know the mechanisms underlying within-subject effects, these effects can be used to measure individual differences in those same mechanisms. However, between-subject variability can arise from an entirely different source from that driving within-subject effects, and here we report a clear-cut demonstration of this. We examined the debated relationship between the visibility of a masked-prime stimulus and the direction of priming it causes (positive or reversed). Such reversal of priming has been hypothesized to reflect an automatic inhibitory mechanism that controls partially activated responses and allows behavioural flexibility. Within subjects, we found an unambiguous systematic transition from reversed priming to positive priming as prime visibility increased, replicated seven times, and using different stimulus manipulations. However, across individuals there was never a relationship between prime discrimination ability and priming. Specifically, these data resolve the controversial debate on visibility and reversed priming, indicating that they arise from independent processes relying on partially shared stimulus signals. More generally, they stand as an exemplar case in which variance between individuals arises from a different source from that produced by stimulus manipulations.