What is the enhanced ability to think of a stimulus due to recent exposure called?

The enhanced ability to think of a stimulus due to recent exposure is known as priming. This psychological phenomenon occurs when exposure to a certain stimulus influences the response to a subsequent stimulus, leading individuals to process information more quickly and efficiently. Priming can occur through various forms, such as semantic priming, where related words or concepts activate each other in memory, facilitating easier retrieval and recognition.

For instance, if a person is exposed to the word "bread," they may be quicker to recognize the word "butter" due to the associational link between the two concepts. This effect showcases how the brain organizes information and how recent experiences can shape our perceptions and responses.

In contrast, cognitive bias refers to systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, which does not specifically relate to exposure effects. Top-down processing involves interpretation based on higher-level cognitive functions and prior knowledge, rather than recent exposure. Sensory adaptation is the diminished sensitivity to a stimulus as a result of constant exposure, rather than an enhancement of stimulus recognition after prior exposure. Thus, priming uniquely captures the influence of prior exposure on subsequent cognitive processing.