Abstract: This study used the retrieval interference methodology and negative priming paradigm to explore the specific mechanisms that are involved in the process of the retrieval of temporal situation modes. The cohort was 28 students from South China Normal University. The experimental material was 18 sentences in the form of “somebody does a certain kind of sport at an exact time”. The sentences were divided into two kinds, i.e., the same time and the different time condition, and each condition had one to three fan levels. For each experimental condition there was also a control condition.
When compared the reaction time of sentences from different fan levels, significant Fan effect was found under the different time condition, while there was no Fan effect under the same time condition. This was consistent with the previous results. The retrieval process analysis shows that the reaction time of the target sentences under experimental condition was significantly shorter than that of the control condition, suggesting that there was a significant negative priming effect. This indicated that a suppression mechanism was involved during the retrieval process. To further explore this idea about the relationship between negative priming and Fan effect, the data from these two conditions were submitted to a correlation analysis. The two variables were significantly negatively correlated, and the negative priming effect was larger when there were one irrelevant model rather two. The number of models that needed to be suppressed on the prime trial had an influence on the degree of inhibition on the target trial. All the results indicated that during the retrieval process of temporal situation models, both activation and inhibition were involved rather than only activation.
The results supported the inhibition views about long-term memory retrieval. But up to now, an appropriate way had not been found to exclude the possibility of other explanations for the negative priming effect. Therefore, it is needed to further explore the nature of the retrieval process of temporal situation models.

Key words: temporal situation model, Fan effect, inhibition, activation