With great expectations, can two "wrongs" prime a "right"?

The proportion of related prime-target pairs (relatedness proportion, RP) a nd prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was varied to determine the involvement of strategic priming mechanisms in the reduction in semantic p riming that occurs when a target follows an unmasked prime that itself rece ives immediate repetition priming from a masked prime. At 300-ms and 1,200- ms SOAs, (a) strategic semantic priming was operating, in that priming from a nonrepeated prime increased as RP increased from .25 to .75, and (b), fo r both RPs, prime repetition reduced semantic priming. At a 167-ms SOA, (a) priming from a nonrepeated prime was unaffected by RP, suggesting that str ategic priming was not operating, and (b) for both RPs, prime repetition di d not reduce semantic priming. Because prime repetition did not reduce prim ing at the 167-ms SOA (when only spreading activation should have been medi ating semantic priming), the reduction in semantic priming produced by prim e repetition is not evidence against spreading activation automaticity. Pos sible mechanisms through which prime repetition reduces semantic priming ar e discussed.