TITLE:
Neural Substrates of Forward and Backward Associative Priming: A Functional MRI Study
AUTHORS:
Sarah Terrien, Fabien Gierski, Stéphanie Caillies, Véronique Baltazart, Christophe Portefaix, Laurent Pierot, Chrystel Besche-Richard
KEYWORDS:
Semantic Memory; Forward and Backward Priming; fMRI; Left Superior Temporal Gyrus; Post-Lexical Integration
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.10A,
October
24,
2013
ABSTRACT: Forward associative
priming results of an association moves from the prime to the target whereas backward
associative priming results of an association from the target to the prime (Koivisto,
1998). Little is known about this dissociation of process and the associated cerebral
substrates. Fourteen healthy participants were included in this study. The task
consisted in a lexical decision task using an fMRI-adapted semantic priming paradigm.
Contrasts between forward related and forward unrelated conditions showed activation
in the left temporal gyrus, left inferior prefrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus and
occipital regions and cerebellum. Investigation of the different patterns of activation
between forward and backward priming shows significant results: during the contrast
between the forward priming effect and the backward priming effect, we observe a
deactivation of BOLD response in temporal and frontal areas, which may reflect the
post-lexical integration process. So, areas responsible for language and for decoding
spelling seem not to be involved in the backward process. An adaptation of this
research in event-related brain potentials is underway to better explore the temporality
of post-lexical process.