Subliminal Perception

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Subliminal Perception

Many people have heard of "subliminal" messages that are not consciously perceived by a subject but nonetheless influence his or her behavior. The concept first became publicized in the 1950s, when the advertiser James Vicary claimed that flashing the words "Drink Popcorn" and "Drink Coke" between frames in a movie theater increased Coke sales by 18.1% and popcorn sales by 57.7%. This caused a storm of controversy, although Vicary later admitted that this "study" was a hoax.(1)Many studies carried out in laboratory conditions do show that "subliminal" inputs can be perceived by the nervous system without the awareness of the conscious "I-function". Inputs perceived "subliminally" have also been shown to influence behavior to some extent, in some instances more than supraliminal inputs. These effects, however, are for the most part limited in magnitude and duration.

The literal meaning of the word "subliminal" is rather misleading since it implies that there is an absolute "limen", or threshold, above which inputs are detected by the "I-function" and below which they are not.(2) However, while there are some "supraliminal" inputs of high intensity where perception is always self-reported by experimental subjects, as well as inputs of low intensity that are never reported, there is also a range of input intensities where subjects report only a fraction of the time.(3) The actual experimental definition of the "liminal" or threshold value of an input is the value where conscious perception occurs 50% of the time. The "limen" can also fluctuate with different prevailing conditions.(4) Therefore, an input could be classified as "subliminal" and still be accessible to the I-function.

Some experiments tha...

... middle of paper ...

...udies of "self-help" tapes billed as containing subliminal messages have not shown to be effective beyond an illusory placebo effect. (9) While subliminal perception definitely exists and subliminal inputs can affect behavior, so far no evidence exists that subliminal inputs can be used to exert any "mind control" on unwilling subjects.

Internet Sources:

1. http:///www.actwin.com/nlp/random/sublm02.htm

2.http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/magic/sublimin.txt.CP852

3.http://trevor.butler.edu/~woodruff/Courses/Subliminal/Bourbon.html

4. SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION

5. Unconscious Perception

6. http://www.weber.u.washington.edu/~agg/release.html

7. Subliminal Mere Exposure

8. The Subliminal Mere Exposure Effect

9. CJBS: Subliminal Self-Help

Sources not cited directly:

Reinventing Subliminal Again

10)http://www.hunter.holowww.com/sublim.html

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