Changes: Subliminal perception

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Subliminal perception is the perception of Subliminal stimulation.

References

Books

Dixon, N. F. (1971). Subliminal Perception: The nature of a controversy, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Papers

Greeenwald, Anthony W. (1992). New Look 3: Unconscious Cognition Reclaimed, American Psychologist, 47.
Holender, D. (1986). Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 1-23.
Merikle, P. M., and M. Daneman (1998). Psychological Investigations of Unconscious Perception, Journal of Consciousness Studies.
Watanabe, Sasaki, Nanez (2001). Perceptual learning without perception. Nature, 413, 844-848.
Seitz and Watanabe (2003). Is subliminal learning really passive. Nature, 422, 36.

External links

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).

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 {{ExpPsy}}
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+'''Subliminal perception''' is the [[perception]] of [[Subliminal stimulation]].
-A '''subliminal message''' is a signal or message embedded in another object, designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. These messages are indiscernible to the [[conscious]] mind, but are alleged to be perceptible to the [[subconscious]] or deeper [[mind]]: for example, an image transmitted so briefly that it is only perceived subconsciously, but not otherwise noticed. Subliminal techniques have occasionally been used in [[advertising]] and [[propaganda]]; the purpose, effectiveness and frequency of such techniques is debated.
-== History ==
+==See also==
+*[[History of subliminal perception research]]
-In 1900, [[Knight Dunlap]], an American professor of [[psychology]], flashed an "imperceptible shadow" to subjects while showing them a [[Mueller-Lyer illusion]] containing two lines with pointed arrows at their ends which create an illusion of different lengths. Dunlap claimed that the shadow influenced his subjects subliminally in their judgment of the lengths of the lines. Although these results were not verified, American psychologist [[Harry Levi Hollingworth]] reported in an advertising textbook that such subliminal messages could be used by advertisers.<ref name="persuasion">{{cite news|work=[[Skeptical Inquirer]]|date=Spring 1992|publisher=[[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]]|title=The Cargo-Cult Science of Subliminal Persuasion|pages=260-272|last=Pratkanis|first=Anthony R.|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/9204/subliminal-persuasion.html|accessdate=2006-08-11}}</ref>
+*[[Priming]]
-James Vicary, a market researcher, falsely claimed in 1957 that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen had influenced people to purchase more food and drink. Vicary coined the term ''subliminal advertising'' and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test in which he flashed the slogans "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Eat popcorn" during a movie for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary claimed that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in the New Jersey theater where the test was conducted increased 57.5 percent and 18.1 percent respectively.<ref name="straightdope">{{cite web|title=The Straight Dope: Does subliminal advertising work?|publisher=[[The Straight Dope]]|url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_187.html|accessdate=2006-08-11}}</ref><ref name="snopes">{{cite web|title=Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (Subliminal Advertising)|publisher=The [[Urban Legends Reference Pages]]|url=http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/popcorn.asp|accessdate=2006-08-11}}</ref>
-Vicary's claims led to a public outcry, and to many [[conspiracy theories]] of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice of subliminal advertising was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom, Australia<ref name="persuasion" /> and in the United States (by the National Association of Broadcastersin 1958, and under the law, in 1974, by the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC)<ref name="snopes" />). But in 1958, Vicary conducted a television test in which he flashed the message "telephone now" hundreds of times during a Canadian Broadcasting Company program, and found no increase in telephone calls. In 1962, Vicary admitted that he fabricated his claim<ref>Boese, Alex (2002). ''The Museum of Hoaxes: A Collection of Pranks, Stunts, Deceptions, and Other Wonderful Stories Contrived for the Public from the Middle Ages to the New Millennium'', [[E. P. Dutton]], ISBN 0-525-94678-0. pps. 137-38.</ref>. Efforts to replicate the results of Vicary's reports have never resulted in success.<ref name="straightdope" />
+== References ==
-In 1973, Wilson Bryan Key's book ''Subliminal Seduction'' claimed that subliminal techniques were widely used in advertising. The book contributed to a general climate of fear with regard to Orwellian dangers of subliminal messaging. Public concern was sufficient to cause the FCC to hold hearings in 1974, which resulted in a declaration stating that subliminal advertising was "contrary to the public interest", and in the aforementioned ban.<ref name="snopes" />
+{{reflist|2}}
+===Further reading===
-In 2006, a study by Dr. [[Johan Karremans]] at the [[Radboud University Nijmegen|University of Nijmegen]] suggested that subliminal messaging may have an effect when the message is goal-relevant.<ref>{{cite web|title=Subliminal advertising may work after all|last=Motluk|first=Alison|publisher=[[New Scientist]]|url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025494.400-subliminal-advertising-may-work-after-all.html|accessdate=2006-08-12}}</ref> The study, however, was criticized for its lack of controls.<ref>{{cite web|last=Swanson|first=Gunnar|title=Re: NewScientist Subliminal Advertising|url=https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0604&L=typo-l&D=0&T=0&P=10137|accessdate=2006-08-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Subliminal advertising might actually work?|last=Hattikudur|first=Mangesh|publisher=[[mental floss]]|url=http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/95|accessdate=2006-08-12}}</ref>
+===Books===
+* Dixon, N. F. (1971). Subliminal Perception: The nature of a controversy, McGraw-Hill, New York.
-== Effectiveness ==
-Certain types of subliminal perception ([[hypnosis]], for example) are known to affect the perceiver without any conscious knowledge of the effect on his part. Furthermore, stimulus by single words is well established to be modestly effective.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.csicop.org/si/9611/judas_priest.html | title=Scientific Consensus and Expert Testimony: Lessons from the Judas Priest Trial | publisher=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=November/December 1996 | first=Timothy | last=Moore | accessdate = 2006-11-18}}</ref> However there is no strong evidence that messages in advertising can or have been used effectively.<ref>{{cite press release|title = Subliminal advertising leaves its mark on the brain|publisher = University College London|date = [[9 March]][[2007]]|url = http://www.ucl.ac.uk/media/library/notaware|accessdate = 2007-03-11}}</ref><ref name="perception">{{cite news|work=[[Skeptical Inquirer]]|date=Spring 1992|publisher=[[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]]|title=Subliminal Perception: Facts and Fallacies|pages=273-81|last=Moore|first=Timothy E.|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/9204/subliminal-perception.htm|accessdate=2006-08-11}}</ref>
+===Papers===
-Perception of subliminal messages is a type of [[subconscious]] [[cognition]]. Unlike [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] tasks such as attending to one signal in a noisy environment while keeping track of other signals (e.g., listening to one voice out of many in a crowded room) and automatic tasks such as [[Breath|breathing]], subliminal message cognition cannot be done consciously.
+* Greeenwald, Anthony W. (1992). New Look 3: Unconscious Cognition Reclaimed, American Psychologist, 47.
+* Holender, D. (1986). Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 1-23.
+* Merikle, P. M., and M. Daneman (1998). Psychological Investigations of Unconscious Perception, [[Journal of Consciousness Studies]].
+* Watanabe, Sasaki, Nanez (2001). Perceptual learning without perception. Nature, 413, 844-848.
+* Seitz and Watanabe (2003). Is subliminal learning really passive. Nature, 422, 36.
-An important question about subliminal perception is: How much of the message is perceived? That is, is the whole message sensed and fully digested, or are only its main and simpler features? There are at least two schools of thought about this. One of them argues that only the simpler features of unconscious signals could be perceived. The second school of thought argues that unconscious cognition is comprehensive and that much more is perceived than can be verbalized.
-Proponents of the power of subliminal messages claim they gain influence or power from the fact that they circumvent the critical functions of the conscious mind, and therefore subliminal suggestions are potentially more powerful than ordinary suggestions. This route to influence or persuasion would be akin to [[auto-suggestion]] or hypnosis, wherein the subject is encouraged to be (or somehow induced to be) relaxed so that suggestions are directed to deeper (more [[gullibility|gullible]]) parts of the mind; some observers have suggested that the unconscious mind is incapable of critical refusal of hypnotic or subliminal suggestions.
-However, critics of the theory have suggested that the effect of subliminal messages would at best be no more than that of a glimpse of a billboard in the corner of an eye. Controlled experiments that attempt to demonstrate the influence of subliminal messages generally find little to no effect.<ref name="persuasion" />
+== External links ==
-The book ''Mind Hacks'' by O'Reilly Press states that subliminal messages are effective in "priming" (putting a half-processed idea in the mind, leading to increased familiarity or a "[[tip of the tongue]]" situation where the idea is present but is not articulated until triggered). It also states that for this reason it has limited application in persuasion, and only slightly more use in advertising. The text states that additionally only one word or image is perceived subliminally most of the time, and that the primary way in which it can be used in advertising is by creating a familiarity with a product that has not been seen before, familiarity that could be misinterpreted as preference. The text references an experiment in which faces were flashed subliminally before the test subject rated a group of faces as to which were preferable (this experiment can be duplicated online, through the URL given in the book).
+[[Category:Advertising techniques]]
-The [http://datalust.net Datalust.net] community created a wiki book (now lost, though a cache is available [http://jdempcy.blogspot.com/2006/08/datalust-infornography.html here]) based on informal research, proposing a technique by which subliminal messages could be used in conjunction with other techniques to improve cognitive function, among other things. This has not been tested in a strict experiment, however there is some anecdotal evidence supporting some of these claims, as documented in the book itself. It is useful to note that the original wiki version was lost when an accidental slip-up in an upgrade of the wiki software corrupted the database, and so the cache has not been updated since then, although the techniques have progressed. The initial creator of the technique gives his contact information in the book, and so interested parties can contact him for updated techniques and hypotheses.
+[[Category:Consciousness studies]]
+[[Category:Human communication]]
+[[Category:Perception]]
+[[Category:Propaganda techniques]]
+[[Category:Subliminal perception]]
-In 2006, a study by Dr. Johan Karremans at the [[Radboud University Nijmegen|University of Nijmegen]] suggested that subliminal messaging may have an effect when the message is goal-relevant.<ref>{{cite web|title=Subliminal advertising may work after all|last=Motluk|first=Alison|publisher=[[New Scientist]]|url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025494.400-subliminal-advertising-may-work-after-all.html|accessdate=2006-08-12}}</ref> The study, however, was criticized for its lack of controls.<ref>{{cite web|last=Swanson|first=Gunnar|title=Re: NewScientist Subliminal Advertising|url=https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0604&L=typo-l&D=0&T=0&P=10137|accessdate=2006-08-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Subliminal advertising might actually work?|last=Hattikudur|first=Mangesh|publisher=[[mental floss]]|url=http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/95|accessdate=2006-08-12 Smoke Now.}}</ref>
-According to a 2007 study by Mathias Pessiglione et al. published in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'', subjects would exert more force on a hand grip in order to receive a portion of a British pound than they would exert for a pence, even when the duration of the display which indicated the payment type was short enough that subjects were not consciously aware of it. <ref>{{cite journal | title=How the Brain Translates Money into Force: A Neuroimaging Study of Subliminal Motivation | doi= 10.1126/science.1140459 | last=Pessiglione | first=Mathias | coauthors = Liane Schmidt, Bogdan Draganski, Raffael Kalisch, Hakwan Lau, Ray J. Dolan, Chris D. Frith | journal=Science | date=11 May 2007}}</ref>
-=== Audio ===
-[[Image:Sox Satanic Subliminals.png|thumb|right|200px|The manual for the popular sound program [[SoX]] pokes fun at subliminal messages. The description of the "reverse" option says "Included for finding satanic subliminals."]]
-[[Backmasking]], an audio technique in which sounds are recorded backwards onto a track that is meant to be played forwards, produces messages that sound like gibberish to the conscious mind. [[Gary Greenwald]], a [[Fundamentalist Christianity|fundamentalist Christian]] preacher, claims that these messages can be heard subliminally, and can induce listeners towards, in the case of [[rock music]], sex and [[Drug abuse|drug use]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Psychological Sketches|editors=John R. Vokey and Scott W. Allen|edition=6th edition|date=2002|publisher=Psyence Ink|location=Lethbridge, Alberta|chapter=Subliminal Messages|pages=223–246|last=Vokey|first=John R.|url=http://people.uleth.ca/~vokey/pdf/Submess.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2006-07-05}}</ref> However, this is not generally accepted as fact.<ref>{{cite web|title=Backmasking on records: Real, or hoax?|last=Robinson|first=B.A.|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cul5.htm|accessdate=2006-07-04}}</ref>
-Following the 1950s subliminal message panic, many businesses have sprung up purporting to offer helpful subliminal audio tapes that supposedly improve the health of the listener. However, there is no evidence for the therapeutic effectiveness of such tapes.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Skeptical Inquirer]]|date=Spring 1992|publisher=[[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]]|title=Subliminal Perception: Facts and Fallacies|pages=273-81|last=Moore|first=Timothy E.|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/9204/subliminal-perception.html|accessdate=2006-08-11}}</ref>
-== Instances ==
-=== Television and video ===
-In [[1978]], [[Wichita, Kansas]] TV station [[KAKE-TV]] received special permission from the police to place a subliminal message in a report on the [[BTK Killer]] in an effort to get him to turn himself in. The image, which appeared for a split second, showed a pair of glasses (an image thought to hold significance to him) and text that read "Now call the chief." [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7736592/from/RL.2/] The attempt was unsuccessful, and police reported no increased volume of calls afterward, though the killer was eventually caught in 2005.
-Before the re-election of French president [[François Mitterrand]] in 1988, a subliminal picture of him was mixed in the title sequence of French national television daily news show, and it appeared for several consecutive days{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
-The subject was also prominently featured in the 1999 film ''[[Fight Club]]''. Pictures of the main character, [[Tyler Durden]], flash onscreen at various points during the earlier parts of the film, before Durden is introduced.<ref>http://www.eeggs.com/items/15885.html</ref> Also, Durden is shown at his job as a projectionist, splicing pornographic flash frames into a film he is showing.<ref>http://www.screenit.com/movies/1999/fight_club.html</ref> A picture of a penis flashes before the end credits.<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/crazycredits</ref>
-During the [[2000 U.S. presidential campaign]], a [[television]] ad [[Advertising campaign|campaign]]ing for [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] candidate [[George W. Bush]] showed words (and parts thereof) scaling from the foreground to the background on a television screen. When the word <tt>[[Bureaucrat|BUREAUCRATS]]</tt> flashed on the screen, one frame showed only the last part, <tt>RATS</tt>.<ref>Crowley, Candy. "[http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/12/bush.ad/ Bush says 'RATS' ad not meant as subliminal message]" CNN.com, 2000-9-12. Retrieved on [[December 16]], [[2006]]</ref><ref>[http://www.bushwatch.com/rats.htm Smoking Pistols: George "Rat Ad" Bush and the Subliminal Kid]</ref> The FCC looked into the matter,<ref>http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Furchtgott_Roth/2000/sphfr011.html</ref> but no penalties were ever assessed in the case.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}
-In the British alternative comedy show ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]'', a number of subliminal images were present in the original and repeated broadcasts. Images included a gull coming into land, a tree frog jumping through the air, and the end credits of the movie ''[[Carry On Cowboy]]''. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} No explanation for these images was given and their relevance, if any, to the plot of the episodes in which they appear is debatable. Although they may fall foul of the FCC guidelines, these images ''do'' appear in the U.S. boxset DVD ''Every Stoopid Episode''. In a [[December 16]], [[1973]] episode of ''[[Columbo]]'' entitled "Double Exposure", [[Robert Culp]]'s character returns to the crime scene and is incriminated by a subliminal cut that he placed in a movie.<ref>http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=130155</ref><!-- --><ref>http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/amia-l/2005/12/msg00182.html</ref>
-A [[McDonald's]] logo appeared for one frame during the [[Food Network]]'s ''[[Iron Chef America]]'' series on [[2007-01-27]], leading to claims that this was an instance of subliminal advertising. The Food Network replied that it was simply a glitch.<ref>{{cite web |title=It was a glitch, not a subliminal ad, for McDonald's on Food Network |publisher=''[[Canadian Press]]'' |date=[[2007-01-25]] |url=http://www.cbc.ca/cp/media/070125/X01259AU.html |accessdate=2007-03-11}}</ref>
-=== Allegations ===
-An internet-based [[prank flash]] called "Subliminal Messages" or "Subliminal Music and Images " features two supposed visual messages and an audio message. The first is the word "SEX" hidden in a [[gin]] advertisement (this message was one of those alleged by Wilson Bryan Key). The second is a woman [[masturbating]], hidden in an advertisement for a flooring company. The animation then switches to the text of the [[Lord's Prayer]], and starts playing [[Cradle of Filth]]'s "Dinner at Deviant Palace" backward, along with faint noises. In the middle of the song, a loud scream is heard, and a series of disturbing images is flashed. The last image is a gray scale image of a [[harlequin fetus]] , which fades away, followed by a message, "Never trust flash animations talking about subliminal stuff!"
-Some groups have made claims that subliminal messages can be found in various forms of popular entertainment, such as the supposed use of "backward messages" in rock and roll songs. Many of these purported messages are Satanic; for example, if the [[Led Zeppelin]] song "[[Stairway to Heaven]]" is played backwards, lyrics including "Oh here's to my sweet Satan" can supposedly be made out. Queen's "[[Another One Bites the Dust]]" is also supposed to contain a pro-[[marijuana]] message: "It's fun to smoke marijuana". These two messages have not been confirmed by the artists, and have not been proven to exist. In contrast, some obvious Satanic messages have been [[backmasking|backmasked]] into rock songs, although parody messages and artistic backmasking are more common (see the [[List of backmasked messages]]).
-In February 2007, it was discovered that 87 [[Konami]] slot machines in Ontario ([[Ontario Lottery and Gaming}|OLG]]) casinos displayed a brief winning hand image before the game would begin. Government officials worried that the image subliminally persuaded gamblers to continue gambling; the company claimed that the image was a "coding error". The machines were removed pending a fix by Konami.<ref>http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012094</ref>
-== Fictional references ==
-While their ultimate efficacy is somewhat controversial, subliminal messages have a long history in television shows, movies, and novels.
-=== Persuasion ===
-Other references deal with the supposed frequent use of subliminal messages to persuade people, in advertising and propaganda.
-== References ==
-<references />
-* Subliminal Perception: The nature of a controversy, N.F.Dixon, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1971.
-* Psychological Investigations of Unconscious Perception, [[Journal of Consciousness Studies]], P.M Merikle and M. Daneman, 1998.
-* New Look 3: Unconscious Cognition Reclaimed, American Psychologist, 47, Anthony W. Greenwald, 1992.
-* Holender, D. (1986). Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 1-23.
-* Seitz and Watanabe. (2003). Is subliminal learning really passive. Nature, 422, 36.
-== Further reading ==
-=== Articles ===
-* [[Robert Zajonc]]
-=== Print ===
-* Alex Boese, (2006). ''Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S.'''', [[Harcourt, Inc]], ISBN 0-15-603083-7, 193-95
-=== External links ===
-*[http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/22/subliminal-advertising.html Subliminal Seduction: How Did the Uproar over Subliminal Advertising Affect the Advertising Industry?]
-*[http://www.parascope.com/articles/0497/sublimdc.htm 1984 testimony about subliminal messages to the Federal Communications commission]
-*[http://www.openyoureyes.web1000.com/index.php?p=1_6 Subliminal Advertising Examples]
-*[http://www.csicop.org/si/9611/judas_priest.html/ Scientific Consensus and Expert Testimony: Lessons from the Judas Priest Trial]
-[[Category:Consciousness studies]]
-[[Category:Perception]]
-[[Category:Popular psychology]]
-[[Category:Advertising]]
-[[Category:Human communication]]
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