A Connectionist Model of Inhibitory Processes in Motor Control and its Application to a Masked Priming Task

A dominant idea in perceptuo-motor research is that there exists a direct linkage between perception and action. Less clear-cut though is the role that conscious awareness plays in mediating such perceptuo-motor processes. There is though increasing evidence that perceptuo-motor linkages can be made below the threshold of conscious experience. One paradigm which probes this issue is a masked priming paradigm by Eimer and Schlaghecken. The results of this experiment suggest, firstly, that masked primes do modulate responses and, secondly, that inhibition plays a role in the paradigm. This paper responds to these observations by developing a connectionist model of this masked priming task. Key elements of the model are the use of lateral inhibition between response alternatives and opponenet networks in order to generate the required inhibitory reversal.