AP Psychology Practice Test

What is priming?

1. Retrieving information consciously

2. The sense of familiarity with new experiences

3. Activation of associations in memory

4. Recall of mood-consistent experiences

The correct answer is: Activation of associations in memory

Priming refers to the cognitive process where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus, often without conscious guidance or intention. This occurs because the initial stimulus activates related associations in memory, making them more accessible when later presented with information related to those associations. For example, if someone sees the word "yellow," they might be quicker to recognize the word "banana" than if they had not seen "yellow" first. The other options, while related to memory and cognition, do not capture the essence of priming. Retrieving information consciously pertains to deliberate recall, the sense of familiarity relates to déjà vu or recognition without specific memory retrieval, and the recall of mood-consistent experiences deals with how emotional states can influence what memories are retrieved. All these concepts are significant in psychology but do not define the specific mechanism that priming involves.