Abstract
Themere exposure effect is defined as enhanced attitude toward a stimulus that has been repeatedly exposed.Repetition priming is defined as facilitated processing of a previously exposed stimulus. We conducted a direct comparison between the two phenomena to test the assumption that the mere exposure effect represents an example of repetition priming. In two experiments, having studied a set of words or nonwords, participants were given a repetition priming task (perceptual identification) or one of two mere exposure (affective liking or preference judgment) tasks. Repetition priming was obtained for both words and nonwords, but only nonwords produced a mere exposure effect. This demonstrates a key boundary for observing the mere exposure effect, one not readily accommodated by a perceptual representation systems (Tulving & Schacter, 1990) account, which assumes that both phenomena should show some sensitivity to nonwords and words.
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This research was supported by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant (R00233329) awarded to L.T.B. and D.C.B.
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Butler, L.T., Berry, D.C. & Helman, S. Dissociating mere exposure and repetition priming as a function of word type. Memory & Cognition 32, 759–767 (2004). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195866
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195866