Priming effects upon memory for double entendre words

Sixty-four undergraduate students were participants in a study that preceded double entendre (DE) words with either sexual or nonsexual primes. Enhanced memory for emotional words has been well established (Kensinger & Corkin, 2003). It was hypothesized that memory would be greater for DE words with sexual primes than nonsexual primes. It was expected that the primes would provide a setting that would evoke either the sexual or nonsexual meaning of the DE word. In support of the experimental hypothesis, recall memory for DE words with sexual primes was greater than for DE words in the nonsexual context. The analysis of intrusions found that sexual intrusions were uncommon. That finding has implications for the study of false memory in the domain of sexuality. No significant gender effects were found. The present research provides a further empirical link between sex research and cognitive psychology.