Negative priming from activation of counting and addition knowledge

In two experiments. subjects were presented with digit pairs (e.g., 32) and asked to respond to the rightmost number. Negative priming, that is, slowe d processing, was evident when the rightmost number was a counting-string ( e.g., 43 following 12) or addition-sum (e.g., 65 following 32) associate of the number pair from the preceding trial. The studies are the first to dem onstrate negative priming with counting and arithmetical memory representat ions and suggest the obligatory activation of these representations with th e presentation of number pairs. The results are also consistent with the vi ew that negative priming often occurs at the semantic level.