Objectives: In this article, we will review the main theories and debates about the negative priming (NP) phenomenon.
Method: A literature review was undertaken for this purpose.
Results: Considering the psychophysical part of NP history, four major theories are available: (1) Inhibition of an internal representation of the distractor; (2) active suppression of a stimulus which dose not match with the internal templates features; (3) temporal discrimination, according to the systems processing for the level of familiarity, and (4) the most recent theory which focuses on how surprising the target is; In other words, target selection has two components on which accuracy and speed of the system depend: the attention transfer rate and attention orienting procedures. Some research found controversial results about what actually occur in different types of NP in the brain by using imaging and electrophysiologial technology. In a research based on the stroop effect, which made NP in this known paradigm, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), left medial temporal (LMT) and operculum of the pre-central gyrus were shown as the most associated areas with NP.
Conclusion: The presented prospectus in this article, is finding about the sequences of events in these areas. This can be achieved by using psychophysical tricks in object presentation, or combining fMRI with high temporal resolution devices like electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potential (ERP).