ABSTRACT: S. C. Draine and A. G. Greenwald (see record 1999-10824-004) demonstrated
replicable unconscious semantic priming by combining a response window procedure,
which increases priming effects by requiring rapid responding, and a regression
analysis in which the regression intercept is a marker for unconscious cognition.
The commentaries by B. A. Dosher (1998) and by P. M. Merikle and E. A. Reingold
(1998) raise two questions about conclusions based on these methods: (a) Did Draine
and Greenwald (1998) demonstrate an indirect effect (subliminal priming) in the
absence of a direct effect (i.e., visibility of the subliminal priming words)?
and (b) Did Draine and Greenwald (1998) demonstrate dissociation of conscious
from unconscious cognition? The first question has reassuring responses that are
reviewed here. The second question is answered by pointing out that although Draine
and Greenwald (1998) did not claim to have established such dissociation, they
provided data that advance the plausibility of that conclusion.