Priming in a free association task as a function of association directionality

Two experiments investigated priming in free association, a conceptual impl icit memory task. The stimuli consisted of bidirectionally associated word pairs (e.g., BEACH-SAND) and unidirectionally associated word pairs that ha ve no association from the target response back to the stimulus cue (e.g., BONE-DOG). In the study phase, target words (e.g., SAND, DOG) were presente d in an incidental learning task. In the test phase, participants generated an associate to the stimulus cues (e.g., BEACH, BONE). In both experiments , priming was obtained for targets (e.g., SAND) that had an association bac k to the cue, but not for targets (e.g., DOG) for which such a backward ass ociation was absent. These results are problematic for theoretical accounts that attribute priming in free association to the strengthening of target responses. It is argued that priming in free association depends on the str engthening of cue-target associations.