Repetition priming and the time course of object recognition: an fMRI study

Abstract

We investigated the effects of repetition priming on the time course of recognition in several visual areas of the brain using fMRI. We slowed down recognition by gradually revealing the stimuli, in order to prolong the pre-recognition phase. Activation was lower for primed than for non-primed objects overall in both the occipitotemporal region (OTR) and the intraparietal region (IPR). A difference was found between primed and non-primed objects in the rate of increase of OTR activation. We concluded that the IPR, in addition to the OTR, was affected by repetition priming, and that this effect was different from that seen in the OTR.