Abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to study if the threat-relevant stimuli receive automatic processing when presented effectively masked in a priming paradigm. The prime consisted of an angry face (A) as threat-relevant stimulus and a face with neutral expression (N) as threat-irrelevant stimulus. The same stimuli (A and N) were used as target (or mask), giving four masking conditions (A/A, N/N, A/N and N/A). Furthermore, the target was considered an imperative stimulus for a reaction time (RT) task. Thirty-two subjects were exposed to 10 trials of each masking conditions with a stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) of 34 milliseconds (ms). The same number of subjects received the same trials, but with a SOA of 51 ms, this being an unmasking presentation of the stimulus. The results demonstrate that an effective masking presentation of a threat-relevant stimulus produces either facilitation or interference with the RT task, depending on whether the target (mask) is a threat-relevant or a threat-irrelevant stimulus.
