Subliminal messages exert long-term effects on decision-making

Subliminal messages exert long-term effects on decision-making Ruch Züst Henke

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Subliminal messages exert long-term effects on decision-making 2016 Neuroscience of Consciousness 10.1093/nc/niw013 Ruch2016-subliminal-messages-exert-long-term-effects Ruch2016-subliminal-messages-exert-long-term-effects.txt, the project's staged copy 03dabf92fc6245d0f0ad66abad412b6ba48ee076 not-redistributable cognitive-psychology

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0 spans located by searching the stored text for the quote's exact words, allowing any whitespace between them Whether novel relational information presented below awareness is stored well enough to bias a conscious decision made twenty minutes later. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. existence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. long-term subliminal influence on delayed decision-making Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. behavioural-experiment behavioural-experiment Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms multi-item subliminal displays force relational binding, which recruits the hippocampus; hippocampal plasticity encodes the relation in a single exposure and holds it for the long term Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms single familiar items are processed by neocortex, which needs many learning trials to lay down a trace, which is why earlier subliminal priming effects decayed within a second or accumulated only slowly Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The proposed route is relational binding in the hippocampal system, which can encode novel relations rapidly and hold them durably Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. That predicts the opposite of the usual expectation - subliminal effects should last longer when the material is novel and must be bound, not when it is familiar and repeated Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. In the second experiment the same logic is applied to word meaning: a subliminal German word must be decoded and linked to a foreign word for the later judgement to work Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Awareness is ruled out four ways rather than one: interview, two objective tests, Bayes factors, and a regression on residual awareness Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. A stricter check: removing every participant whose awareness score deviated from chance in either direction, and confirming the effect survives Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The paradigm cannot establish what kind of memory was formed - precise semantic relations or only fuzzy semantic/affective associations. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. In experiment 2 the Bayes analysis of the awareness test was inconclusive, so true unawareness of the subliminal words was not established. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The awareness test for experiment 2 may simply have been insensitive rather than showing absence of awareness. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Awareness was not probed trial-by-trial during the main experiments, so brief awareness of some stimuli cannot be excluded. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The authors state plainly that a non-significant awareness test does not establish unawareness, and this is why they compute Bayes factors Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. In Experiment 2 that check came back inconclusive and is reported as such - awareness could not be excluded Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The conclusion for Experiment 2 is therefore explicitly left open on the awareness question Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The regression method used to separate awareness from effect is cited together with the criticism of it Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The effects are a few percentage points above chance in both experiments Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The Experiment 2 effect rests on a p just under .05 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. twenty additional faces paired with CONSONANT STRINGS and presented subliminally as a control condition - AND THE PAPER MARKS IT '(not reported)' eliminates: that the long-term preference follows from subliminal exposure to ANY paired string rather than to the message - consonant strings carry no meaning, and the paper marks the condition '(not reported)' in its own parentheses · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): absent-declared-unreported · would have ruled out, had it been run: the subliminal presentation itself as the source of the later wage judgement: if faces paired with meaningless consonant strings produced the same effect, the occupation words would not be doing the work Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. a non-significant awareness test - as ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE: the test may simply have been too insensitive, which proves nothing Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. a non-significant awareness test - as EVIDENCE OF ABSENCE: a Bayes factor below one third, which is what Experiment 1 obtained Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the same test in Experiment 2 - INCONCLUSIVE: a factor near one, favouring neither hypothesis, and reported rather than glossed Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. subliminal effect - the received view: decays within about a second, which is why it is thought harmless Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. subliminal effect - as found here: undiminished at 25 minutes compared with 15, for novel relational material Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. phenomenon: long-term subliminal influence on delayed decision-making a second reading reaching the same value. Recorded: long-term subliminal influence on delayed decision-making — note: a second reading reaching the same value from a different sentence. Not applied - a person decides. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. builds-on → Duss et al. (2011) subliminal masking paradigm Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. builds-on → Greenwald et al. (1995) regression method for estimating awareness-independent subliminal effects Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. contradicts → prevailing views that consciousness is a precondition for information integration, relational learning and decision-making (Tononi, 2004; Shanks, 2010; Newell and Shanks, 2014) Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. critiques → the view that subliminal effects decay within a second and are therefore harmless Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. critiques → the assumption that subliminal messages are stored only slowly and not at all when novel Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. extends → Dienes on using Bayes factors to test whether a null can be accepted Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. extends → Greenwald et al.'s regression method for separating subliminal influence from residual awareness Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. subliminal —causes→ long-term memory subliminal long-term memory strength of the relation: 0.8 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its span and kept, but the span says new associations were stored long-term; causes is loose. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. masked —operationalised-as→ subliminal masked subliminal strength of the relation: 1 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but the masked stimuli are reported as not seen; operationalised-as is loose. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. prior distribution —part-of→ Bayes factors prior distribution Bayes factors strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. decision accuracy —contrasted-with→ chance level decision accuracy chance level strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. face–occupation pairs —operationalised-as→ relational binding face–occupation pairs relational binding strength of the relation: 1 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but the face-occupation pairs are the experiment's stimuli; 'relational binding' as their operationalisation is loose. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. unconscious processing —same-as→ subliminal unconscious processing subliminal strength of the relation: 0.8 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its span and kept, but the span concludes effects came from unconscious processing; same-as 'subliminal' is loose. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. t-test t-test Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. confidence interval confidence interval Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Bayes factor Bayes factor Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. prior distribution prior distribution Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. multiple regression multiple regression Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Bayes factor Bayes factor Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. t-test t-test Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. confidence interval confidence interval Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. multiple regression multiple regression Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. effect size effect size Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. binomial probability binomial probability Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Faces that had been subliminally paired with high- or low-wage occupations were later consciously rated as high or low earners at 53.97% accuracy, above the 50% chance level. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Subliminally encoded semantic associations still steered conscious decisions almost thirty minutes later. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The subliminal effect was no weaker after a 25-minute delay than after 15 minutes, so it did not measurably decay over that range. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Subliminally presented pseudoword-translation pairs let participants judge later whether a foreign word matched a synonym of its translation, at 52.7% accuracy versus 50% chance. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Objective forced-choice tests in experiment 1 gave substantial Bayesian evidence that participants could not perceive the masked faces or occupations. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. In experiment 2 the Bayes factor of 1.14 was inconclusive, so the awareness test there could not rule stimulus awareness out. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Accuracy in the awareness test did not predict decision accuracy in the main experiment. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Lasting unconscious relational memories formed from only one or two subliminal encoding episodes in participants naive to the manipulation. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. subliminal face-occupation pairs shifted income judgements above chance almost half an hour later Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the effect was no weaker at 25 minutes than at 15 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. subliminally presented foreign vocabulary supported later match/mismatch judgements at 52.7% against a 50% baseline Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Bayes factors gave substantial support for genuine unawareness in Experiment 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the same analysis was inconclusive in Experiment 2, so awareness could not be excluded there Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the effect survived removing every participant whose awareness score departed from chance in either direction Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. sandwich masking sandwich masking Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. indirect (implicit) memory test indirect (implicit) memory test Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 'deliberation without attention' effect 'deliberation without attention' effect Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Bayes factor Bayes factor Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. relational binding relational binding Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. encoding-test interval encoding-test interval Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mean decision accuracy mean decision accuracy Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. accuracy in the awareness test accuracy in the awareness test Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mean logarithmic word frequency mean logarithmic word frequency Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. character count character count Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 53.97% — mean accuracy of income decisions about subliminally primed faces in experiment 1 (chance = 50%) Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 52.7% — mean accuracy of match/mismatch translation decisions in experiment 2 (chance = 50%) Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 50% — chance-level performance on the objective face-awareness forced-choice test Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 1.14 — Bayes factor for the experiment-2 awareness test, in the inconclusive range Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 46 — number of analysed participants in experiment 1 after exclusions Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 23 women and 11 men — composition of the analysed experiment-2 sample (34 participants) Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 40 — number of face–word pairs encoded subliminally in experiment 1, one encoding episode each Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 48 encoding episodes for 24 pseudoword–word pairs — experiment 2 encoding load: each pair shown in two nonadjacent subliminal episodes Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 53.97% — Experiment 1 decision accuracy, about four points above the 50% baseline Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 52.7% — Experiment 2 accuracy, under three points above baseline Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 0.16 and 0.14 — Bayes factors supporting genuine unawareness in Experiment 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 1.14 — the Experiment 2 Bayes factor - close to 1, favouring neither hypothesis Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 15 and 25 min — the two retention intervals across which the effect held Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 12 participants — those removed in the strict re-analysis for deviating from chance on an awareness test Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution.

The full text of this article is not redistributable, so it is not included here. The evidence sentences are withheld with it; the tag layer and its grounding status remain. The article itself is at https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niw013.