Abstract
We explore under which conditions words flanking a centrally presented digit in the prime display can elicit semantic priming on the lexical decision to a subsequent letter string appearing at fixation about 1 sec later. No significant priming is found when the prime display requires an immediate odd/even classification of a digit (Experiment 1), a delayed recall of a digit (Experiment 3), or the detection of an infrequent change from the digit 4 to the letter A (Experiment 4). It is only in Experiment 2, in which nothing is presented at fixation during the prime display in positive lexical decision trials, that a positive semantic priming effect is found. These results are discussed in the framework of quantitative and qualitative limitations to processing automaticity.