Effects of stimulus exposure on information processing: An implicit memory perspective

This dissertation consists of three experiments which examine how stimulus exposure affects the consumer's decision making process under low involvement conditions. The first experiment examines how explicit and implicit memory for an exposure event are affected by different conditions during encoding. The next two experiments examine how implicit memory affects the consumer's affective response toward the stimulus via the mere exposure effect.;In the first study, three different types of memory accessibility that may arise from a single exposure (namely, explicit memory, conceptual priming, and perceptual priming), and the conditions under which these different types of memory accessibility may be enhanced are examined. Results of the study demonstrate that memory assessed by three memory measures responds differentially to a level of processing and a chronic brand accessibility manipulation. The dissociations observed between three memory performances provide evidence that explicit memory, conceptual priming, and perceptual priming are different types of memory operating independently of each other. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed.;The dissertation then examines how perceptual priming affects judgment in terms of the mere exposure effect, a phenomenon by which an individual develops a liking towards a stimulus by being repeatedly exposed to it, even though s/he may not recognize having seen the stimulus. Implicit memory research provides evidence that nonconscious learning can take place in the absence of recognition memory, and this implicit learning results in an ease of processing experienced by the individual upon subsequent exposures. While this ease of processing supports both an uncertainty reduction and a misattribution explanation for the mere exposure effect, results of a study testing the two competing models provide partial support for an uncertainty reduction explanation.;The results of a third study provide further support for the uncertainty reduction explanation when uncertainty reduction as represented by subjects' confidence is also shown to influence their affective evaluation. Findings also suggest that under certain circumstances, requesting a subjective familiarity judgment from the subjects may create an artificial situation that moderates the effect of enhanced affect from prior exposure.