SPP LDT
— Associative
A behavioral task of visual word attention and semantic memory. After a briefly presented prime word, you decide whether a target letter string is a real word or a nonword. When the prime is related in meaning to the target, recognition improves — that related-versus-unrelated difference is the semantic priming effect. This single unified administration uses word pairs listed by the Semantic Priming Project (Hutchison et al., 2013) verbatim, and preserves the SPP comparison between a short (200 ms) and a long (1,200 ms) prime–target interval.
One unified administration
Every scored trial pairs a briefly presented prime with a target letter string — a real word or a length-matched nonword, both retained verbatim from the Semantic Priming Project stimulus lists. Trials run in four blocks with self-paced rest breaks, and the whole session — 12 practice trials plus 320 scored trials — is designed to finish within 45 minutes for most people (typically 30–40).
The conditions are counterbalanced rather than segregated. Each block mixes related and unrelated primes; the prime–target interval (stimulus-onset asynchrony, or SOA) alternates 200 ms and 1,200 ms across blocks in a balanced order; strong and moderate forward association strength, backward associates with matched forward pairs, and word versus nonword targets are distributed evenly through every cell. Target words additionally span earlier-, mid-, and later-acquired vocabulary using published age-of-acquisition ratings (Kuperman et al., 2012). Age of acquisition here is a stimulus characteristic used to balance the word set and support an age-level comparison — it is not a separate task and not a measured psychological construct.
From your trials we report:
- Your accuracy on word and nonword decisions
- Your response speed on correct decisions (trimmed for validity)
- Your inverse efficiency score — speed divided by accuracy, one predeclared combined speed–accuracy outcome
- Your priming effect at each interval — how much correct responses after related primes outpace correct responses after unrelated primes, each with a margin (95%) from your own trial-to-trial consistency
- The short-versus-long interval contrast, the forward-versus-backward association contrast, the strong-versus-moderate strength contrast, and the earlier- versus later-acquired vocabulary comparison — each a within-session comparison from your own trials
Where a directly comparable Semantic Priming Project per-subject distribution exists — overall speed, accuracy, inverse efficiency, and the priming effect at each interval — your figure is placed as an empirical percentile within that laboratory sample (Hutchison et al., 2013), the same dataset the stimuli come from. This is a shortened administration of the SPP protocol, so those percentiles are honest empirical context against the SPP sample, not norms; the direction, strength, and vocabulary-age contrasts remain within-session comparisons with no reference distribution. There is no T-score, IQ score, or diagnostic result: performance also depends on the display, keyboard, and browser used.
Want to see what a finished report looks like first? Preview a real sample — no signup required.
Common questions
What is a priming effect?
When a word is preceded by a related word (NURSE before doctor), people recognize it faster and more accurately than when it is preceded by an unrelated word (BREAD before doctor). That related-versus-unrelated difference is the semantic priming effect, and it is one of the most reliable findings in the study of how meaning is organized in memory.
Why present the prime and target at two different intervals?
The prime–target interval (stimulus-onset asynchrony, or SOA) controls how much processing can happen before the target appears. The 200 ms interval leaves no time for deliberate strategy, so it isolates automatic priming; the 1,200 ms interval gives time for controlled, expectancy-based processing. Both intervals appear within the one administration, so the comparison separates the automatic and strategic contributions to your semantic priming.
What is the difference between forward and backward associates?
Forward associates run prime→target (the prime brings the target to mind). Backward associates run target→prime (the target brings the prime to mind, but not strongly the reverse). Forward priming can arise automatically; substantial backward priming usually points to a slower, more strategic process. The form pairs its backward associates with forward pairs matched on vocabulary age, length, and frequency, so the comparison is not confounded with the words themselves.
What role does age of acquisition play?
Target words are selected so that earlier-, mid-, and later-acquired vocabulary (by published ratings; Kuperman et al., 2012) appears evenly across every condition. That balance lets the report include an earlier- versus later-acquired comparison without confounding it with relatedness or timing. Age of acquisition is a property of the stimulus words — it is not a separate task, and the report does not treat it as a measured psychological construct.
What do the percentiles mean — is this an IQ-style score?
No. A percentile is where your figure falls among the individual participants of the Semantic Priming Project laboratory sample (Hutchison et al., 2013), and it is reported only for metrics with a directly comparable SPP per-subject distribution: overall speed, accuracy, inverse efficiency, and the priming effect at each interval. Because this is a shortened administration of the SPP protocol, percentiles are empirical context, not norms; the direction, strength, and vocabulary-age contrasts remain within-session comparisons. Nothing on the report is a T-score, an IQ score, or a diagnosis.
How is the task administered?
Through the clinician and researcher portals: administration and scored reports go through an assigned assessment link, and there is no charge to the respondent. The sample report is available to clinician accounts.