Critical importance of exposure duration for affective discrimination of stimuli that are not recognized.

Abstract

Previous research has found that repeated exposure to briefly presented visual stimuli can increase the positive affect for the stimuli without enhancing their recognition. Subjects could discriminate target and distractor shapes by affective preference in the absence of recognition memory. This study examined this phenomenon as a function of stimulus exposure duration. Over exposure durations of 0, 2, 8, 12, 24, and 48 ms, the functions for affect and recognition judgments exhibited different temporal dynamics. Target selection by affect was possible at very brief exposures and was influenced little by increasing durations; target selection by recognition required longer stimulus exposures and improved with increasing durations. Affective discrimination of stimuli that are not recognized is a reliable phenomenon, but it occurs only within a narrow band of time. This parametric study has specified the relationship between exposure duration and affect and recognition judgments and has located that temporal window.

New Look 3: Unconscious cognition reclaimed.

“…Nevertheless, on twoalternative forced-choice tests of preference, comparing previously exposed and nonexposed stimuli, subjects prefer the previously exposed stimuli on about 60% of choices. First reported by Kunst- Wilson and Zajonc (1980), this result has been replicated by several investigators in various laboratories (e.g., Bonanno & Stillings, 1986;Mandler, Nakamura, & Van Zandt, 1987;Seamon, Marsh, & Brody, 1984; reviewed recently by Bornstein, in press). These studies generally have not included extensive testing to establish the detectability characteristics of exposure condition^.^ Several investigators have sought a visual subliminal aflective conditioning result, characterized by the transfer of affect from a briefly flashed stimulus (an affectively positive or negative word, smiling or frowning face, or an emotion-arousing scene) to a fully visible neutral stimulus.…”

Replicable unconscious semantic priming.

“…However, the indirect-greater-than-direct pattern has proven difficult to obtain. It has appeared most notably in research using measures of direct and indirect effects obtained at a substantial time delay after original stimulus presentations (Bonanno & Stillings, 1986;Bornstein & D'Agostino, 1992;Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980;Mandler, Nakamura, & Van Zandt, 1987;Merikle & Reingold, 1991;Seamon, Marsh, & Brody, 1984). It has not been obtained in semantic-priming experiments.…”

Perceptual fluency and affect without recognition

“…For those who subscribe to Zajonc's view, perceptual fluency is a process that occurs automatically as a function of actual stimulus repetition or objective familiarity (Seamon et al, 1983(Seamon et al, , 1984. The greater the actual repetition status, the greater the perceptual fluency and the more positive the affective judgments.…”

“…There is substantial evidence that people can form preferences for stimuli in the absence of recognition memory (e.g., Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980;Seamon, Brody, & Kauff, 1983;Seamon, Marsh, & Brody, 1984;Wilson, 1979). Demonstration of this phenomenon has typically involved showing that affective responses are more positive for previously presented stimuli than for new stimuli, even when the stimuli are not recognized as familiar.…”

“…By contrast, Lazarus (1982) contends that cognitive appraisal is a necessary precondition for affective appraisal and that the absence of recognition does not imply the absence of cognition. Rather, the hypothesis is that affective judgments can be based on cognitive activity in the form of perceptual registration occurring prior to recognition (see, e.g., Gordon & Holyoak, 1983;Lazarus, 1982Lazarus, , 1984Lazarus & McCleary, 1951;Seamon et al, 1983;Seamon et al, 1984).…”