Slowing of mask-triggered inhibition in the elderly

Maylor et al.’s (2011) study combines the Simon effect, a well-investigated manipulation, with the masked-priming technique. This is an original idea, and the study was competently performed. This interesting approach provides new evidence about changes of response control in old age.

The impact of this paper might be further improved if alternative accounts of inverse priming (viz. of the “negative compatibility effect,” NCE) were considered. In the following, I will point to some problems in the authors’ conception of this effect and will argue that an alternative account of inverse priming might provide a more coherent view on the highly interesting results reported in this study.