The mere exposure effect in patients with schizophrenia

The mere exposure effect refers to the development of an emotional preferen ce for previously unfamiliar material because of frequent exposure to that material. This study compared schizophrenia subjects (n = 20) to normal con trols (n = 21) to determine whether implicit memory, as demonstrated by the mere exposure effect, was intact, Patients with schizophrenia demonstrated a normal preference for both verbal and visual materials seen earlier rela tive to novel materials, despite impaired performance on a recognition task for explicit memory using similar materials. Previous studies of schizophr enia subjects have shown a dissociation between implicit and explicit memor y on verbal tasks. We found a similar dissociation demonstrated by normal f unctioning on an implicit memory task and impaired functioning on an explic it memory task. Potential implications of these findings are discussed with regard to treatment and rehabilitation.