Author(s): Fernandes, Tânia ; Xavier, Eduardo ; Domingues, Miguel ; Araújo, Susana
Date: 2022
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/63380
Origin: Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
Subject(s): Masked priming; Mirror invariance; Reversible letter; Orientation contrast; Orthographic processing; Visual word recognition
The cognitive mechanism underpinning mirror priming effects for letters (e.g., IDEA primed by ibea) is still unclear: it could be about mirror invariance (perceptual equivalence of mirror images - d and b - which does not extend to other orientation contrasts like plane rotations - d and p) or about visual similarity (b, d, and p share the same visual features and shape). To enlighten it and investigate the modulatory role of task and orthographic context (words vs single letters), we manipulated letter (nonreversible; reversible) and prime condition (identity, mirrored, rotated, control) in four masked priming experiments: lexical decision with conventional and sandwich paradigms (Experiments 1 and 2), same-different task on words and single letters (Experiments 3 and 4). All experiments replicated the differential mirror priming effect: inhibitory for reversible letters, facilitatory for nonreversible letters. Notably, similar priming effects were found for plane rotations. Regardless of task or orthographic context, a reliably larger orientation cost was found for reversible than nonreversible letters for both mirror images and plane rotations. These results suggest that the underlying mechanism is not mirror invariance, but rather visual similarity allied with prelexical dynamics.
