Differences in neural responses to positively and negatively primed words: A cross-modal study of affective priming using environmental sounds

Introduction: In this study we used event related potentials (ERPs) to compare neurophysiological responses during emotion priming versus semantic priming. Semantic priming happens when a stimulus facilitates or speeds recognition of a subsequent stimulus because the two stimuli have related meanings (e.g., "applause"–"success" vs. "music"–"success"). Previous ERP studies have shown robust N400 effect to words that are semantically primed. Emotion priming occurs when two stimuli have the same emotional valence (i.e., both positive or both negative). There have been inconsistent findings with respect to ERP markers of emotion priming in previous studies.