Responding Optimally with Unknown Sources of Evidence (ROUSE) is a theory of short-term priming. ROUSE is applied to threshold identification, measured with two alternative forced choice testing. Associative, orthographic/phonemic, and repetition priming are quantitatively modeled and empirically studied. In ROUSE, preference for prime related choice words results from source confusion. Inaccurate estimates of prime interference explain the finding that a choice word related to the prime is preferred after passive viewing of primes, whereas a choice word not related to the prime is preferred after active processing of primes. The results and theory allow us to distinguish changes in perceptual processing of the target from preference effects. Evidence of enhanced perception is only found with associative priming and is very small in magnitude compared to preference effects. These results suggest preference largely accounts for the benefits typically found with short-term priming. The variable nature of preference highlights the importance of using measures capable of separating preferential and perceptual components of priming.
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