Abstract: Negative priming effect of distractor in selective attention was investigated by Arabic or Chinese digit naming tasks. When stressing the accuracy of digit naming, the priming effect of distractor was negative; positive priming effect was found when stressing the reaction speed. The results suggested that the activation state of distractors is a critical factor to the nature of priming effect. The spreading inhibition of distractor, inhibition-based fan effect, and the theory of late-selection were generally supported.

Key words: selective attention, positive priming, negative priming, spreading inhibition, inhibition-based fan effect