Impact of nonconsciously perceived information on decisions

Priming refers to the process of activating parts of particular representations of associations in memory just before carrying out an action or task. So priming can be seen as an effective cognitive mechanism that activates a user’s previously stored schema and increases the accessibility of existing information in memory. Even incidental exposure to a stimulus can activate associated mental constructs and cause people to behave in a manner which is linked up with the activated construct. In some cases, this impact on behavior has been observed even when subjects are not aware of having been exposed to the information earlier. This all holds particularly true for existing representations. However, a salient question arises: What happens, if a subject is exposed to a completely novel stimulus without any existing representation in its memory and without knowledge of being exposed? In other words, the exposure happens nonconsciously. Does this nonconscious encounter lead to a n ew impli cit memory representation which also impacts on subsequent decisions? To take a closer look at that salient issue, we conducted an experiment which reveals a significant difference between control and experimental group.