The results of this study confirmed that people react differently to preferred meanings of ambiguous images (to those that will get into consciousness later) and to rejected meanings of ambiguous images (those that will not). We observed a facilitative after-effect of the preferred meaning which was expressed in the positive priming-effect, and the following dynamics of the rejected meaning after-effect: positive priming at small values of SOA (30 ms), negative at bigger SOA values (530 ms) and positive priming at all the following SOA values (1,030, 3,030 and 5,030 ms). These results imply that subliminal perception, as well as supraliminal, is selective. We believe that negative priming for one of the meanings of an ambiguous image presented subliminally might be associated with an unconscious decision as to whether or not a particular stimulus will enter into consciousness, in accordance with the negative choice theory.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)199-213
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Cognitive Psychology
Volume32
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 Feb 2020

    Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

    Research areas

  • Ambiguous images, lexical decision, negative choice, primes presented subliminally, SOA

ID: 53361611