Repetition priming in visual search: Episodic retrieval, not feature priming

Huang, Liqiang; Holcombe, Alex O.; Pashler, Harold · 2004 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/bf03195816

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This paper investigates the mechanisms underlying repetition priming in visual search, specifically challenging the prevailing theory that priming results from the independent potentiation of distinct feature representations. Previous research by Maljkovic and Nakayama (1994, 1996) suggested that repeating a target’s feature (e.g., color) speeds up response times because that feature’s "attention-summoning power" is independently enhanced. This theory predicts additive effects for repeated features and implies that only task-relevant features should prime performance. Huang, Holcombe, and Pashler tested these predictions by examining whether task-irrelevant features affect search and whether priming effects for different features interact rather than add independently. The authors conducted four experiments in which participants searched for an odd-sized target among distractors and reported its orientation. Crucially, the color of the items was irrelevant to the task. In Experiment 1, target size, orientation, and color varied randomly. Results showed that while repeating the defining feature (size) significantly sped up responses, repeating the irrelevant feature (color) had no significant main effect. However, a significant interaction emerged: repeating the target color facilitated responses only when the target size was also repeated; when the size changed, repeating the color actually slowed responses (negative priming). A similar interaction was found between size and orientation. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed these findings under conditions where participants had foreknowledge of the target size, showing that color priming remained beneficial only when size was constant. Experiment 4 demonstrated that this color priming effect persisted regardless of whether the color sequence was predictable or random. The findings contradict the independent potentiation model proposed by Maljkovic and Nakayama. That model predicts that feature repetition should always yield positive, additive benefits and that irrelevant features should have no effect. Instead, the data show that irrelevant features do influence performance and that the effect of repeating one feature depends critically on the repetition status of other features. The crossover interaction—where repetition helps in one context but hinders in another—cannot be explained by simple additive potentiation of separate feature channels. The authors conclude that repetition priming in visual search is better explained by an episodic retrieval mechanism. Rather than independently boosting specific features, the visual system retrieves a holistic memory representation of the previous trial. When the current target matches the previous one in multiple features, retrieval is efficient and speeds performance. When features conflict (e.g., same color but different size), the mismatch between the retrieved episodic memory and the current stimulus causes interference, leading to slower responses. This suggests that visual search plasticity relies on contact with episodic memory representations of prior trials rather than the independent tuning of preattentive feature detectors.

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• visual search