Priming

In perception, priming denotes the mutual influence between different percepts, processes, or representations. Imagine that you can't remember [Page 825]where you left your coffee mug in your house, so now you search for it. If you commonly drink the coffee in the kitchen, one look into the kitchen is probably enough to find it. This quick perception exemplifies priming: Perceiving a familiar context facilitates seeing an object there. Priming is often beneficial. Yet it can also be detrimental. Imagine you search for a child in a playground. The playground is a common context for perceiving a child. Therefore, it primes perceiving children—but not just yours. In fact, the more children potentially distract you, the more harmful the playground's priming effect for finding a particular child ...