What is the true nature of the relationship between road signs and the transmission of information? The current perspective regards the information obtained from road signs to be conscious and explicit. Recent research however suggests that road signs may also have an automatic priming function distinct from the conscious use of information. The current study tested novice and experienced drivers in a repetitive priming condition (road signs priming road signs) and a semantic priming condition (road signs priming road scenes). Strong repetitive priming effects and weaker semantic priming effects were found for the experienced drivers but not the novices. This suggests that not only do road signs have an automatic priming function, but that this process is developed with increased experience in the relevant context. (Author/publisher).
Samenvatting