Why does just thinking about one word lead other words to pop into your head right away?

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Introduction: 

                            Whenever we think of the word pen the next word which automatically comes to mind is paper. But why does this happen? Why by imagining one word its related word comes to our mind. This is all due to the priming effect. When we see a word our brain unconsciously thinks of another word that links to it. It all happens unconsciously and our brain doesn't even realize why it happened. In this article you will be able to get detailed knowledge about the priming effect, How it occurs, what are its different types, etc.

What is the Priming effect?

                              Priming is a psychological strategy where the introduction of one signal affects how people react to another. A memory association or representation is triggered by priming right before introducing a new signal or activity. This phenomenon happens without our conscious knowledge, but it has the potential to significantly affect many parts of our daily life.

                           In the 1980s, psychologists found that simply hearing a word impacts how easily a large number of related words may be recalled in an instant and to measurable degrees.

                           What word immediately comes to mind after listening to the word "night"? The phrases like "stars," "moon," or "day" immediately spring to mind. These words come to your mind so immediately that your conscious mind didn’t even realize it. This is what we call the priming effect.


How does priming occur?

                           Long-term memory, according to psychologists, is thought to contain informational units (also known as schemas). There are numerous strategies to either raise or diminish the activation of these schemas. These memories are more accessible when specific informational units are activated to a higher degree. Information is less likely to be recalled from memory when the activation is reduced.

                      According to priming, some schemas frequently activate simultaneously. Some informational units become active, which in turn activates connected or related units. So, What are the benefits of making linked schemas more active and available? In many situations, being able to access related information more quickly from memory may aid people in reacting more quickly when necessary.

Types of priming:

  • Positive and negative Priming:

                         In positive priming, the processing speed of retrieving the information from memory is faster but in negative priming, the speed is relatively slow. Like if we walk on a slippery floor we automatically slow down our pace. It all happens because of the positive priming and the relevant information that slippery floors can cause us to fall is retrieved so fastly. 

  •  Semantic Priming:

                         In this type of priming the words that are associated logically comes to mind. When we think of coffee, the next word which comes to mind is either “cup” or “milk”.     

  • Associative Priming:

                        The words normally associated with each other are primed in our minds quickly. For instance, words like “education” and “school” are often linked with each other in our memory.

  • Repetition Priming:

                          This is quite comparable to positive priming. The process of immediately priming a response after experiencing a stimulus is known as direct priming. After experiencing the stimulus once more, the brain will understand it more quickly.    

  • Perceptual Priming:

                        It involves signals with comparable forms. For instance, due to their similar perceptual properties, the words "goat" and "boat" will stimulate a faster reaction when placed before each other.

  • Conceptual Priming:

                            This type involves the priming of words that are conceptually related in our memory. Words like “Chair” and “Bench” are conceptually related in our memory to sit.

                             

Does priming have any effect on our actions?

                                       Priming has an effect on our actions that is influenced by our thoughts without any conscious awareness and this phenomenon is called the ideomotor effect.

                                   In one study, researchers used terms that were frequently connected with negative perceptions about elderly persons to subtly prime participants. People who had been primed with words associated with elderly persons were more inclined to move more slowly outside the testing booth than participants who had not been primed.

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