EFFECTS OF PERCEPTUAL FLUENCY ON AFFECTIVE JUDGMENTS

According to a two-step account of the mere-exposure effect, repeated exposure leads to the subjective feeling of perceptual fluency, which in turn influences liking. If so, perceptual fluency manipulated by me ans other than repetition should influence liking. In three experiment s, effects of perceptual fluency on affective judgments were examined In Experiment I, higher perceptual fluency was achieved by presenting a matching rather than nonmatching prime before showing a target pictu re. Participants judged targets as prettier if preceded by a matching rather than nonmatching prime. In Experiment 2, perceptual fluency was manipulated by figure-ground contrast. Stimuli were judged as more pr etty and less ugly, the higher the contrast. In Experiment 3, perceptu al fluency was manipulated by presentation duration. Stimuli shown for a longer duration were liked more, and disliked less. We conclude (a) that perceptual fluency increases liking and (b) that the experience of fluency is affectively positive, and hence attributed to positive b ut not to negative features, as reflected in a differential impact on positive and negative judgments.