Repetition priming and the time course of object recognition: an fMRI study

WE investigated the effects of repetition priming on the time course of rec ognition in several visual areas of the brain using fMRI. We slowed down re cognition by gradually revealing the stimuli, in order to prolong the pre-r ecognition phase. Activation was lower for primed than for non-primed objec ts overall in both the occipitotemporal region (OTR) and the intraparietal region (IPR). A difference was found between primed and nonprimed objects i n the rate of increase of OTR activation. We concluded that the IPR, in add ition to the OTR, was affected by repetition priming, and that this effect was different from that seen in the OTR. NeuroReport 10:1019-1023 (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.