visuomotor priming

n. The process of facilitating or inhibiting a motor action by presenting a visual image immediately before the motor action. Thus, if the motor task is picking up a glass of water, then presenting an image of a vertical metal bar about the same diameter as the glass immediately before picking up the glass will make it faster to pick up the glass. If the subject is shown an image of a horizontal bar immediately before picking up the upright glass, there will be an inhibitory effect on picking up the glass.