Mere Exposure: A Gateway to the Subliminal

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 224-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.B. Zajonc
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Stimulus Object ◽  
Repeated Exposure ◽  
Perceptual Fluency ◽  
Exposure Effect ◽  
Aversive Events ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
Independent Process

In the mere-repeated-exposure paradigm, an individual is repeatedly exposed to a particular stimulus object, and the researcher records the individual's emerging preference for that object. Vast literature on the mere-repeated-exposure effect shows it to be a robust phenomenon that cannot be explained by an appeal to recognition memory or perceptual fluency. The effect has been demonstrated across cultures, species, and diverse stimulus domains. It has been obtained even when the stimuli exposed are not accessible to the participants’ awareness, and even prenatally. The repeated-exposure paradigm can be regarded as a form of classical conditioning if we assume that the absence of aversive events constitutes the unconditioned stimulus. Empirical research shows that a benign experience of repetition can in and of itself enhance positive affect, and that such affect can become attached not only to stimuli that have been exposed but also to similar stimuli that have not been previously exposed, and to totally distinct stimuli as well. Implications for affect as a fundamental and independent process are discussed in the light of neuroanatomical evidence.

Novel Stimuli are Negative Stimuli: Evidence That Negative Affect is Reduced in the Mere Exposure Effect

2005 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent M. Robinson ◽  
Lorin J. Elias
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Uncertainty Reduction ◽  
Mere Exposure ◽  
Repeated Exposure ◽  
Mere Exposure Effect ◽  
Exposure Effect ◽  
Conditioning Model ◽  
Neutral Expression

Repeated exposure of a nonreinforced stimulus results in an increased preference for that stimulus, the mere exposure effect. The present study repeatedly presented positive, negative, and neutrally affective faces to 48 participants while they made judgments about the emotional expression. Participants then rated the likeability of novel neutrally expressive faces and some of these previously presented faces, this time in their neutral expression. Faces originally presented as happy were rated as the most likeable, followed by faces originally presented as neutral. Negative and novel faces were not rated significantly differently from each other. These findings support the notion that the increase in preference towards repeatedly presented stimuli is the result of the reduction in negative affect, consistent with the modified two-factor uncertainty-reduction model and classical conditioning model of the mere exposure effect.

scholarly journals Effects of Perceptual Fluency on Affective Judgments

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Reber ◽  
Piotr Winkielman ◽  
Norbert Schwarz
Keyword(s):  
Mere Exposure ◽  
Repeated Exposure ◽  
Perceptual Fluency ◽  
Subjective Feeling ◽  
Mere Exposure Effect ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Presentation Duration ◽  
Exposure Effect ◽  
Target Picture

According to a two-step account of the mere-exposure effect, repeated exposure leads to the subjective feeling of perceptual fluency, which in turn influences liking. If so, perceptual fluency manipulated by means other than repetition should influence liking. In three experiments, effects of perceptual fluency on affective judgments were examined. In Experiment 1, higher perceptual fluency was achieved by presenting a matching rather than nonmatching prime before showing a target picture. Participants judged targets as prettier if preceded by a matching rather than nonmatching prime. In Experiment 2, perceptual fluency was manipulated by figure-ground contrast. Stimuli were judged as more pretty, and less ugly, the higher the contrast. In Experiment 3, perceptual fluency was manipulated by presentation duration. Stimuli shown for a longer duration were liked more, and disliked less. We conclude (a) that perceptual fluency increases liking and (b) that the experience of fluency is affectively positive, and hence attributed to positive but not to negative features, as reflected in a differential impact on positive and negative judgments.

Perceptual Effects and Recollective Experience in Face Recognition

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrisanthi Nega
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Congruency Effect ◽  
Facial Recognition ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Study Time ◽  
Perceptual Fluency ◽  
Recollective Experience ◽  
Trace Strength ◽  
Size Congruency

Abstract. Four experiments were conducted investigating the effect of size congruency on facial recognition memory, measured by remember, know and guess responses. Different study times were employed, that is extremely short (300 and 700 ms), short (1,000 ms), and long times (5,000 ms). With the short study time (1,000 ms) size congruency occurred in knowing. With the long study time the effect of size congruency occurred in remembering. These results support the distinctiveness/fluency account of remembering and knowing as well as the memory systems account, since the size congruency effect that occurred in knowing under conditions that facilitated perceptual fluency also occurred independently in remembering under conditions that facilitated elaborative encoding. They do not support the idea that remember and know responses reflect differences in trace strength.

scholarly journals Different Impact of Perceptual Fluency and Schema Congruency on Sustainable Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7040
Author(s):  
Beat Meier ◽  
Michèle C. Muhmenthaler
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Perceptual Fluency ◽  
Study Phase ◽  
Desirable Difficulties ◽  
Design Learning ◽  
Cognition And Learning ◽  
Incorrect Information

Perceptual fluency, that is, the ease with which people perceive information, has diverse effects on cognition and learning. For example, when judging the truth of plausible but incorrect information, easy-to-read statements are incorrectly judged as true while difficult to read statements are not. As we better remember information that is consistent with pre-existing schemata (i.e., schema congruency), statements judged as true should be remembered better, which would suggest that fluency boosts memory. Another line of research suggests that learning information from hard-to-read statements enhances subsequent memory compared to easy-to-read statements (i.e., desirable difficulties). In the present study, we tested these possibilities in two experiments with student participants. In the study phase, they read plausible statements that were either easy or difficult to read and judged their truth. To assess the sustainability of learning, the test phase in which we tested recognition memory for these statements was delayed for 24 h. In Experiment 1, we manipulated fluency by presenting the statements in colors that made them easy or difficult to read. In Experiment 2, we manipulated fluency by presenting the statements in font types that made them easy or difficult to read. Moreover, in Experiment 2, memory was tested either immediately or after a 24 h delay. In both experiments, the results showed a consistent effect of schema congruency, but perceptual fluency did not affect sustainable learning. However, in the immediate test of Experiment 2, perceptual fluency enhanced memory for schema-incongruent materials. Thus, perceptual fluency can boost initial memory for schema-incongruent memory most likely due to short-lived perceptual traces, which are cropped during consolidation, but does not boost sustainable learning. We discuss these results in relation to research on the role of desirable difficulties for student learning, to effects of cognitive conflict on subsequent memory, and more generally in how to design learning methods and environments in a sustainable way.

scholarly journals When twice is better than once: increased liking of repeated items influences memory in younger and older adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocco Palumbo ◽  
Alberto Di Domenico ◽  
Beth Fairfield ◽  
Nicola Mammarella
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Encoding ◽  
Mere Exposure Effect ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Repeated Presentation ◽  
Exposure Effect ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Background Numerous studies have reported that the repeated presentation of a stimulus leads to an increase in positive affect towards the stimulus itself (the so-called mere exposure effect). Here, we evaluate whether changes in liking due to repetition may have a differential impact on subsequent memories in younger and older adults. Method In two experiments, younger and older adults were asked to rate a series of nonwords (Experiment 1) or unfamiliar neutral faces (Experiment 2) in terms of how much they like them and then presented with a surprise yes–no recognition memory task. At study, items were repeated either consecutively (massed presentation) or with a lag of 6 intervening items (spaced presentation). Results In both experiments, participants rated spaced repeated items more positively than massed items, i.e. they liked them most. Moreover, older adults remembered spaced stimuli that they liked most better than younger adults. Conclusions The findings are discussed in accordance with the mechanisms underlying positivity effects in memory and the effect of repetition on memory encoding.

Mere Exposure Effect Is Sometimes Insensitive to Mood Inductions

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-93
Author(s):  
Mikael Molet ◽  
Paul Craddock ◽  
Alana J. Osroff ◽  
Patty Li ◽  
Tessa L. Livingston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
Mood Induction ◽  
Uncertainty Reduction ◽  
Mere Exposure ◽  
Perceptual Fluency ◽  
Mere Exposure Effect ◽  
Exposure Effect ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Central Hypothesis ◽  
Novel Objects

Abstract. The mere exposure effect (MEE) is defined as repeated exposures to a stimulus enhancing affective evaluations of that stimulus ( Zajonc, 1968 ). The three prominent explanations of the MEE are Zajonc's “neophobia” account, the uncertainty reduction account, and the perceptual fluency approach. Zajonc's “neophobia” account posits that people have an inherent low level of fear of novel objects and exposure to the objects partially extinguishes this novelty-based fear. The uncertainty reduction account asserts that people find uncertainty aversive and habituation reduces uncertainty. The fluency account postulates that people “like” representations of things with which they are fluent. In four experiments, we induced positive and negative moods before or after target exposures. In addition to assessing the MEE in each condition, we assessed the mood induction. The central hypothesis assessed in this series was that there would be an interaction between mood and the MEE. Although the three accounts of the MEE generated divergent predictions, none of the accounts were well supported by the data. Tests for mood induction demonstrated the efficacy of the induction procedures and the MEE was consistently observed, but Bayesian analysis indicated that at least in the present preparation mood had no effect on the MEE.

A Classical Conditioning Procedure for the Hearing Assessment of Multiply Handicapped Persons

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio E. Lancioni ◽  
Frans Coninx ◽  
Paul M. Smeets
Keyword(s):  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Conditioning Procedure ◽  
Handicapped Children ◽  
Visual Reinforcement ◽  
Classical Procedure ◽  
Hearing Assessment ◽  
Classical Conditioning Procedure

The present study evaluated the viability of a classical conditioning procedure with an air puff as unconditioned stimulus for the hearing assessment of multiply handicapped children and adolescents. All subjects were also exposed to operant conditioning, which consisted of a modified visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) procedure or involved edible reinforcement contingent on a reaching response (for blind subjects). The findings indicate that the classical conditioning procedure was successful with 21 of the 23 subjects, whereas operant conditioning succeeded with 15 of the subjects. Thresholds obtained with classical conditioning were mostly equal to or within 10 dB of those obtained with operant conditioning and also matched previously available hearing estimates. These findings seem to suggest that the classical procedure can be a useful behavioral alternative for audiological assessment.

How memorable experiences influence brand preference

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Stach
Keyword(s):  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Brand Preference ◽  
Mere Exposure Effect ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Exposure Effect ◽  
Conditioning Theory ◽  
User Groups

Purpose This paper aims to illuminate mechanisms through which memorable experiences with brands create lasting preferences. It is based on the proposition that intense positive (negative) affective consumption in the consumer’s youth creates powerful imprints, which influence brand preference (distaste) throughout life. Design/methodology/approach Autobiographical memories with Nutella are retrieved from three different user groups, i.e. heavy-, light- and non-users. The retrieved memory narratives are analysed using conditioning theory, i.e. operant, classical or no conditioning are identified and compared across groups. Findings The research’s central proposition is affirmed, yet the dominant form of conditioning mechanism differs per group. Operant conditioning outperforms classical conditioning in creating strong and lasting preferences. Heavy- and non-users predominantly exhibit in-tensely positive and negative operant conditioning, respectively. Light-users on the other hand recall less affectively intense consumption experiences, mainly featuring classical conditioning. The light-users’ recollections suggest a mere exposure effect to be more appropriate in describing the preference formation in this user group. Research limitations/implications Users not having experienced affectively intense consumption, i.e. light-users, are likely to be influenced in their preference over time through other factors, which this paper does not focus on. Practical implications Memory elicitation and exploration provides valuable insights to shape both promotional as well as advertising strategies. Originality/value The study extends existing theory on conditioning in marketing by first using a novel qualitative approach to analyse conditioning procedures in real-life settings, and second, it highlights operant conditioning’s superior ability in creating lasting preferences.

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