The Role of Attention in Perceptual and Conceptual Priming Juliana Burges Sbicigo Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Gerson Américo Janczura University of Brasília Jerusa Fumagalli de Salles Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul The aim of this study aim was to explore the role of attention in nonverbal perceptual implicit memory (priming) and verbal perceptual and conceptual tests, comparing with equivalent tests of explicit memory. We hypothesized that perceptual priming would be immune to the effects of divided attention during retrieval, while conceptual priming and explicit tasks would be vulnerable to these effects. Three experiments tested this hypothesis in a divided-attention condition in the retrieval phase. Experiment 1 used a picture-fragment completion task and a tone judgment task; Experiment 2 used a word-stem completion task; and Experiment 3 used a category-exemplar production task. Experiments 2 and 3 used a secondary task in which a sequence of consonants was judged as same or different. Implicit memory was affected by divided attention in the picture-fragment completion task and the category-exemplar production task. The word-stem completion task was immune to the effects of divided attention. The explicit tests were affected in the 3 experiments. Together, these results indicate that, under some circumstances, perceptual implicit memory demands attentional resources during retrieval. Conceptual implicit memory, on the other hand, always requires attentional resources, as has been previously shown in the literature. Keywords: implicit memory, memory, divided attention, attention and memory, auto- maticity Implicit memory is traditionally defined as memory that involves automatic retrieval pro- cesses, that is, processes that require few atten- tional resources (Schacter, 1987; Jacoby, 1991; Logan, 1990). This definition, however, has sel- dom been empirically tested, and the automa- ticity of implicit retrieval still requires confir- mation ( De Brigard, 2012). The divided attention paradigm, in which a memory test is performed simultaneously with a secondary task, has been used to assess the role of atten- tion in memory processes. This condition is compared to another in which the memory test is performed in isolation (full attention). If the secondary task does not influence performance on the memory test, the memory process is considered automatic. In contrast, if the second- ary task does affect memory performance, we infer that the process demands attention (Craik et al., 1996; Jacoby, 1991). Studies assessing the effect of attention on memory were extensively performed with ex- plicit tests (e.g., Baddeley, Lewis, Eldridge, & Thomson, 1984; Craik et al., 1996; Fernandes & Moscovitch, 2002; Parkin, Reid, & Russo, 1990). Effects of divided attention on explicit retrieval are not consistent across studies (Craik et al., 1996; Mulligan & Picklesimer, 2016). In general, deficits in memory tests are greater when the secondary test belongs to the same modality (e.g., verbal) as the main test and requires a high frequency of responses (Craik et Juliana Burges Sbicigo, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; Gerson Américo Janczura, University of Brasília; and Jerusa Fumagalli de Salles, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. This article was financially supported through a doctoral scholarship provided to Juliana Burges Sbicigo by the Bra- zilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Juliana Burges Sbicigo, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Instituto de Psicologia, Ramiro Barce- los, 2600/114, Porto Alegre, RS 90035-003, Brazil. E-mail: julianasbicigo@gmail.com This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Psychology & Neuroscience © 2017 American Psychological Association 2017, Vol. 0, No. 999, 000 1983-3288/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pne0000084 AQ: au AQ: 1 AQ: 7 1 tapraid5/pne-pne/pne-pne/pne99917/pne0101d17z xppws S=1 4/22/17 7:02 Art: 2016-0103 APA NLM