Evaluative learning with "subliminally" presented stimuli

Evaluative learning refers to the change in the affective evaluation of a previously neutral stimulus (NS) that occurs after the stimulus has been associated with a second, positive or negative, affective stimulus (AS). Four experiments are reported in which the AS was presented very briefly. Significant evaluative learning was observed in participants who did not notice the presentation of the affective stimuli (ASi) (Experiment 2) or could not discriminate between the briefly presented positive and negative ASi when asked to do so (Experiment 3). In two other experiments (Experiments 1 and 4), no significant learning effect was obtained. A meta-analysis performed on the present and previously reported results (De Houwer, Baeyens, & Eelen, 1994) gave evidence for a small, though statistically reliable evaluative learning effect when ASi are presented "subliminally." This finding supports the hypothesis that evaluative associations can be learned implicitly.