The goal of this module is for you to learn what the priming paradigm is, get an idea of some of the research questions it can be used to study, and familiarize yourself with different kinds of priming experiments. This will involve a mixture of hands-on work and literature searching. By the end of the module, hopefully you will be able to do the following things:
This module includes five tasks. For each task, you will need to read something and then answer some questions; some of these questions may require a long time to think about. You should do the tasks in the order they are presented here, because each task builds off of the previous one.
Next to each task I have written whether it needs to be completed before class, and an estimate of how much time you might need to complete the task, . This is, of course, a rough estimate, and the real time may be different for different students.
NOTE: For the first task you will need to download some software to your computer (laptop or desktop). It's not strange if you encounter some problems during this process, as softwares and computer operating systems are always changing. Usually, searching online or asking GenAI for help will be a very effective way to find solutions.
Currently, I've provided are two software options, DMDX and PsychoPy. However, DMDX is getting to be very old and out-of-date. It's a simpler program and works well if it works, but if you have difficulties, I probably won't be able to help you, and even GenAI might not be very useful. For PsychoPy, GenAI is very good at problem solving and I am also familiar with some of the common problems that occur.
modified by Eric Pelzl; original content by Stephen Politzer-Ahles. Last modified on 2026-JAN-21. CC-BY-4.0.