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Masking is a widely used and powerful way of studying visual processes to reduce (or eliminate) any influence from previous or upcoming primes. The symbols # represent forward and backward masks. The priming process shows how exposure to one stimulus (e.g., audio, video, words, or images associated with a negative, neutral, or positive emotion) influences the response to the target, which is another stimulus. Providing an organized overview on the topic will be of use to researchers looking to understand the current body of research in the area.Īn example of a typical subliminal priming trial. A thorough understanding of subliminal priming is essential to optimize the outcomes and performance of this research across the sciences. The methods and results emerging from these studies are increasingly being used in the social and health sciences, including for advertising, human–computer interactions, and political campaigns. In cognitive psychology studies, subliminal priming study methodologies often include very short experimental observation periods (milliseconds) to understand the impact of a brief exposure on an individual’s decision-making when exposed to a subsequent stimulus (see Figure 2). Subliminal priming has been studied extensively in psychological research, often for the purposes of market research. As a result, a strong conceptual and measurement model is needed to understand, study, and apply this concept. Subliminality may vary over time as a function of dispositional factors and environmental variables. In the clinical and research contexts, subliminal priming depends on the specific indicators sampled and the time-frames over which they are measured. For example, subliminally presented smiling and scowling faces have been shown to positively and negatively shift evaluative judgments of subsequently-presented affectively-neutral Chinese ideographs. Diffuse processing occurs when the stimuli spill over onto a temporally adjacent stimulus. Previous literature highlights that information below the threshold of conscious detection can elicit “diffuse processing” compared to information above the threshold. Subliminal priming is established based on a “primed” stimuli that is below the threshold of conscious detection. In subliminal priming, subjects are not aware of the stimuli as it occurs quickly (approximately less than 500 ms), yet it still influences them.
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