Examining Rate Priming on Information Processing

Abstract

The current study investigated the effect of a musical prime on an individual’s reading rate, reading comprehension, and processing speed. This research further examined if there is a correlation between reading speed and reading comprehension. Music and language primes have been shown to affect processing speed, such that when participants were exposed to a slow prime, language production slows down, and vice versa for fast primes (Jungers, Hupp, & Dickerson, 2016). This effect of priming has been observed in other cognitive capacities such as decision-making (Buelow, Hupp, Porter & Coleman, 2018), suggesting that the rate of prime could change processing speed across domains. The current study sought to further support this theory by testing processing speed in motor movements and reading rate. These domains were measured when participants completed the Purdue Pegboard Task and The Nelson Denny Reading Test after being exposed to 3 minutes of a classical music prime. The musical prime was manipulated to have either a slow or fast tempo. It was observed that there is a positive correlation between reading rate and reading comprehension, but that the rate of prime did not affect processing speed, reading rate, or reading comprehension.