Moving distractors and moving targets: combining a response priming task with moving prime stimuli and a flanker task

In response priming, responses are typically faster and more accurate if the prime calls for the same response as the target (i.e. compatible trials), than when primes and targets trigger different responses (i.e. incompatible trials). With moving rows-of-dots as primes for static arrow targets, participants instead responded faster to incompatible targets with longer SOAs (> 200 ms). In the present experiments, response priming with moving primes was combined with a flanker arrangement. Flankers were moving rows-of-dots. Targets were either static arrows or moving rows-of-dots. In seven experiments, there were positive compatibility effects with an SOA of 147 ms and negative compatibility effects with an SOA of 360 ms. Positive as well as negative effects were larger with moving compared to static targets, and negative effects were larger with primes compared to flankers. Theories on motor pre-activations and inhibition as well as on attention and the specific role of motion were discussed.