Language
Masked Priming Task
Also called: masked repetition priming, masked identity priming, forward masked priming, masked lexical decision
Measure how a word too brief to see speeds recognition of the same word, with frame-timed 50 ms primes, a forward mask and lexical decision targets.
5-7 minTimed: desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad
Free to start: 10 free participants per account, then $0.99 per participant for academic research, or any yearly plan. Preview any test free after you sign up.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 270
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
Measures how a word too brief to see speeds recognition of the same word. A row of hashes, a lower-case prime for about 50 ms, then an upper-case target: participants decide whether the target is an English word. A short check after the task shows how visible the primes were.
Constructs
- Visual word recognition
- Automatic lexical access
- Repetition priming
Research uses
- Reading and word recognition research
- Psycholinguistics and bilingualism research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Masked Priming Task measures how a word that is too brief to see speeds recognition of the same word. Each trial is a lexical decision: an empty panel for 300 ms, a row of six hashes for 500 ms, a lower-case prime for about 50 ms, and then an upper-case target that stays until the participant decides whether it is an English word, or until 2,000 ms. The mask and the case change keep the prime from being seen, and participants are not told about it. Forster and Davis (1984) introduced this forward-masked display to study word recognition without the strategies that visible primes invite. Bodner and Masson (1997) studied masked repetition priming of words and nonwords. Witzel and colleagues (2013) and Angele and colleagues (2023) tested the method over the web, and Angele and colleagues found identity priming with 33 and 50 ms primes.
More about the paradigm
Every string has six letters. The prime is the target itself (identity) or another string of the same kind from the same half of the list (unrelated), with no letter in the same position and, for two words, low similarity in word vectors. The 60 words are chosen by rule from the Glasgow Norms and word frequency lists, with a mean Zipf value near 4. The 60 nonwords are made from other words by changing two letters, as in the lexical decision task. Two lists swap which half of the targets follows identity primes, and each session's list comes from its seed, so across sessions each target follows both kinds of prime. No published item list is used.
The mask and the prime switch on screen frames. The prime duration is rounded to whole frames of the measured refresh rate, which at 60 Hz gives 3 frames, and researchers can set 33 to 67 ms. The prime's measured duration is saved on every trial, and a trial whose prime ran more than one frame off is left out of the scores. As a setting that is on by default, a short check after the main task uses the same displays with fresh strings: participants are told about the hidden string and judge whether it was a word, which gives prime visibility d'.
The primary score is the masked priming effect: mean correct response time to words after an unrelated prime minus after an identity prime, using responses from 250 to 1,800 ms. In Angele and colleagues (2023) it was about 41 ms with a 50 ms prime. Scores also give the same effect on medians and on nonwords, accuracy and response time in each condition, prime visibility d', trials left out for timing and anticipations. With 30 trials per condition the effect is meant for group comparisons rather than for one person's score: Brysbaert and Stevens (2018) recommend at least 1,600 observations per condition, or about 54 participants here. The words are English; sessions run in other languages are flagged for review. Scores support research and do not diagnose.
Scores
- Masked Priming Effectms
- Unrelated minus identity mean correct response time to word targets, using responses from 250 to 1,800 ms.
- Positive values mean an identity prime sped recognition; a larger effect is not better
- Masked Priming Effect, Mediansms
- The same effect computed on median response times.
- Positive values mean an identity prime sped recognition
- Nonword Priming Effectms
- Unrelated minus identity mean correct response time to nonword targets.
- Usually near zero
- Word RT, Identity Primems
- Mean correct response time to words after an identity prime.
- Lower is faster
- Word RT, Unrelated Primems
- Mean correct response time to words after an unrelated prime.
- Lower is faster
- Nonword RT, Identity Primems
- Mean correct response time to nonwords after an identity prime.
- Lower is faster
- Nonword RT, Unrelated Primems
- Mean correct response time to nonwords after an unrelated prime.
- Lower is faster
- Word Accuracy, Identity Prime%
- Share of words after an identity prime answered as words.
- Higher is better
- Word Accuracy, Unrelated Prime%
- Share of words after an unrelated prime answered as words.
- Higher is better
- Nonword Accuracy, Identity Prime%
- Share of nonwords after an identity prime answered as not words.
- Higher is better
- Nonword Accuracy, Unrelated Prime%
- Share of nonwords after an unrelated prime answered as not words.
- Higher is better
- Overall Accuracy%
- Share of all test trials answered correctly. A missed response is incorrect.
- Under 80% is flagged for review
- Prime Visibilityd'
- How well the participant told word primes from nonword primes in the visibility check, as d' with a log-linear correction.
- Near 0 means the primes could not be seen; 1.5 or more is flagged for review
- Visibility Hit Rate%
- Share of word primes judged to be words in the visibility check.
- Context for the scores
- Visibility False Alarm Rate%
- Share of nonword primes judged to be words in the visibility check.
- Context for the scores
- Usable Identity Word Trialstrials
- Correct word responses after an identity prime that enter the priming effect.
- Fewer than 15 is flagged for review
- Usable Unrelated Word Trialstrials
- Correct word responses after an unrelated prime that enter the priming effect.
- Fewer than 15 is flagged for review
- Trials Excluded for Timingtrials
- Test trials whose prime ran more than one frame off, left out of every condition's scores.
- More than 20% of trials is flagged for review
- Mean Prime Durationms
- Mean measured duration of the prime over the test trials.
- More than 10 ms from the setting is flagged for review
- Anticipationscount
- Responses under 100 ms.
- Context for the scores
- Missed Responsescount
- Test trials with no response within 2,000 ms.
- Context for the scores
Use and evidence
270 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, down 18% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 93 of 395 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 68 |
| 2024 | 39 |
| 2023 | 52 |
| 2022 | 57 |
| 2021 | 54 |
| 2020 | 67 |
| 2019 | 55 |
| 2018 | 83 |
| 2017 | 59 |
| 2016 | 67 |
| 2015 | 79 |
| 2014 | 88 |
| 2013 | 90 |
| 2012 | 102 |
| 2011 | 63 |
| 2010 | 85 |
| 2009 | 75 |
| 2008 | 79 |
| 2007 | 63 |
| 2006 | 48 |
| 2005 | 42 |
| 2004 | 40 |
| 2003 | 37 |
| 2002 | 29 |
| 2001 | 15 |
| 2000 | 18 |
Use grade C
100 to 299 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade C
At least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 0
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 39
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
How the grades work
Use: A is 1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025, B 300 to 999, C 100 to 299, D 30 to 99 and E fewer than 30. Evidence: A means at least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome; B, at least 8 test-retest papers, and either 5 registered clinical studies or 150 reliability or validity papers; C, at least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies; D, little published measurement evidence found. The counts measure use. They include every paper that names the task in its title or abstract. Grades describe the published research on this task, not ConductCognition's version of it.
Source: ConductCognition test census 0.14.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Trial
- An empty panel for 300 ms, a row of hashes for 500 ms, a lower-case prime for about 50 ms, then an upper-case target until a response or 2,000 ms.
- Prime
- 50 ms (standard; 33 to 67), rounded to whole frames of the measured refresh rate: 3 frames at 60 Hz. The mask and the prime switch on screen frames, and the prime's measured duration is saved on every trial.
- Timing rule
- A trial whose prime ran more than one frame off is left out of the scores.
- Items
- 120 targets of six letters: 60 words and 60 nonwords, half of each after an identity prime and half after an unrelated prime of the same kind.
- Lists
- Two lists swap which targets follow identity primes; each session's list comes from its seed.
- Keys
- F and J for word and nonword, counterbalanced across sessions.
- Practice
- 8 trials with feedback. The test gives feedback only after a missed response.
- Prime visibility check
- 40 trials after the main task (a setting, on as standard) with the same displays and no time limit. The participant judges whether the hidden string was a word, which gives d'.
- Response times
- Correct responses from 250 to 1,800 ms.
- Selection rule
- Words chosen by rule from the Glasgow Norms and word frequency lists, and nonwords made from other words by changing two letters. The items come from no published list.
With 30 trials per condition, the priming effect is meant for group comparisons rather than one person's score. The words are English; sessions run in other languages are flagged for review.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: masked_priming_test from the scored run, F or J for word or nonword target (chance 50%, half the targets are words) within 2,000 ms, correctness from the key for the target. Below chance invalidates and not above chance is flagged. One key on 90% of answers invalidates when accuracy is not above chance. Missed responses and responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule. Completing fewer than half the planned trials invalidates, and any other incomplete run is flagged. Accuracy under 80%, fewer than 15 usable word responses in either prime condition, the prime more than one frame off on over 20% of trials, a mean prime more than 10 ms from the setting, a prime visibility d' of 1.5 or more, or a session run in a language other than English is flagged for review.
Why these rules
Accuracy significantly below chance (one-sided exact test, p < .05) cannot come from guessing; it means the response mapping was reversed or the task was not followed (Slick, Sherman and Iverson 1999 treat below-chance forced-choice performance as definite response bias). Chance-level accuracy can be a real result in impaired participants, so it is only flagged. One option on at least 90% of answered trials, when the correct options are balanced and accuracy is not above chance, means the answers did not depend on the items (the task counterpart of long-string responding in surveys; Curran 2016). Missed responses and responses under 100 ms keep the platform's timed-test rule: more than max(3, 25%) missed responses or more than max(2, 20%) responses under 100 ms invalidate, and any is flagged. A response under 100 ms cannot be a reaction to the stimulus. Masked priming studies leave out participants under 80% accuracy (Angele et al., 2023, https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01742-y), and the effect is a difference between mean correct response times, so it needs enough of them in each condition. The effect grows with the prime's duration, so a display that could not hold the prime changes the measure. A prime the participant can see is no longer masked, and with 20 trials of each kind a d' of 1.5 is well beyond guessing. The word lists are English. A session run in another language shows English words to a participant who may not read English fluently, so it is flagged for review.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Prime duration (ms) | 50 | 33 to 67 |
| Prime visibility check | On | On or off |
Yearly plans can change settings within these limits. Free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Need a setting this test does not have?
Devices and languages
- Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. Participant devices
- Instructions and screens: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. Words and sentences: English.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- No percentile. Scores and quality flags only. How norms work
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Masked Priming Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Forster & Davis, 1984; Angele et al., 2023), with the standard settings (prime duration (ms): 50; prime visibility check: On). The main score was masked priming effect (unrelated minus identity mean correct response time to word targets, using responses from 250 to 1,800 ms).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Forster, K. I., & Davis, C. (1984). Repetition priming and frequency attenuation in lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10(4), 680-698. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.10.4.680The forward-masked display.
- Bodner, G. E., & Masson, M. E. J. (1997). Masked repetition priming of words and nonwords: Evidence for a nonlexical basis for priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 37(2), 268-293. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1996.2507Masked repetition priming of words and nonwords.
- Witzel, J., Cornelius, S., Witzel, N., Forster, K. I., & Forster, J. C. (2013). The Mental Lexicon, 8(3), 421-449. https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.8.3.07witMasked priming over the web.
- Angele, B., Baciero, A., Gómez, P., & Perea, M. (2023). Does online masked priming pass the test? The effects of prime exposure duration on masked identity priming. Behavior Research Methods, 55(1), 151-167. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01742-yPrime duration online, the response window and the response time limits.
- Brysbaert, M., & Stevens, M. (2018). Power analysis and effect size in mixed effects models: A tutorial. Journal of Cognition, 1(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.10Observations needed per condition.
Source papers
- Forster KI, Davis C (1984). Repetition priming and frequency attenuation in lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10(4):680-698.Paradigm source, Adults
- Bodner GE, Masson MEJ (1997). Masked repetition priming of words and nonwords: evidence for a nonlexical basis for priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 37(2):268-293.Paradigm source, Adults
- Witzel J, Cornelius S, Witzel N, Forster KI, Forster JC (2013). The Mental Lexicon, 8(3):421-449.Paradigm source, Adults
- Angele B, Baciero A, Gomez P, Perea M (2023). Does online masked priming pass the test? The effects of prime exposure duration on masked identity priming. Behavior Research Methods, 55(1):151-167.Paradigm source, Adults
- Brysbaert M, Stevens M (2018). Power analysis and effect size in mixed effects models: a tutorial. Journal of Cognition, 1(1):9.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Masked Priming Task take?
About 5 to 7 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Masked Priming Effect, Masked Priming Effect, Medians, Nonword Priming Effect, Word RT, Identity Prime, Word RT, Unrelated Prime, Nonword RT, Identity Prime, Nonword RT, Unrelated Prime, Word Accuracy, Identity Prime, Word Accuracy, Unrelated Prime, Nonword Accuracy, Identity Prime, Nonword Accuracy, Unrelated Prime, Overall Accuracy, Prime Visibility, Visibility Hit Rate, Visibility False Alarm Rate, Usable Identity Word Trials, Usable Unrelated Word Trials, Trials Excluded for Timing, Mean Prime Duration, Anticipations and Missed Responses. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Masked Priming Task used in research?
270 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, down 18% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 93 of 395 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.14.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Masked Priming Task have?
In the published research, 0 papers report its test-retest reliability and 0 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade C in the ConductCognition test census).
Does it report a percentile?
No. Scores and quality flags only.
Which settings can a researcher change?
Prime duration (ms) (33 to 67) and prime visibility check (On or off). Settings can be changed on yearly plans; free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Which languages can participants use?
The instructions and screens are in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. The words and sentences stay in English, so sessions in other languages are flagged for review. English is on every plan, and the other languages come with yearly plans. Have a native speaker read the machine-translated text before launch.
Is this a clinical test?
No. ConductCognition is for research use only. It runs, scores and exports the test; clinical interpretation is outside the platform.
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