VISUOMOTOR PRIMING

Two experiments were performed to explore a possible visuomotor primin g effect. The participants were instructed to fixate a cross on a comp uter screen and to respond, when the cross changed colour (''go'' sign al), by grasping one of two objects with their right hand. The partici pants knew in advance the nature of the to-be-grasped object and the a ppropriate motor response. Before (100 msec), simultaneously with or a fter (100 msec) the ''go'' signal, a two-dimensional picture of an obj ect (the prime), centred around the fixation cross, was presented. The prime was not predictive of the nature of the to-be-grasped object. T here was a congruent condition, in which the prime depicted the to-be- grasped object, an incongruent condition, in which the prime depicted the other object, and a neutral condition, in which either no prime wa s shown or the prime depicted an object that did not belong to the set of to-be-grasped objects. It was found that, in the congruent conditi on, reaction time for initiating a grasping movement was reduced. Thes e results provide evidence of visuomotor priming.