Context-specific control in the single-prime negative-priming procedure

The current paper examines the applicability of the context-specific control principle to the probe selection dependence of negative-priming effects using the single-prime procedure. In a series of experiments, we highlight the applicability of the context-specific control principle, first by illustrating a key result that implicates the role of context-specific control and challenges the contextual similarity principle. Following this, we show the importance of distinct probe contexts in the single-prime negative-priming procedure and report a novel finding that illustrates a learning effect that can occur within an experimental session. Finally, we test the relation of our novel learning effect to a related learning proposal offered by Frings and Wentura (2006), and we demonstrate that the learning involved in context-specific control is not dependent on contingency learning. Overall, the patterns of results highlight the role of context-sensitive memory in controlling how current perception and action are integrated with prior experience.