Preference, Familiarity, and Recognition after Repeated Brief Exposures to Random Geometric Shapes

Repeated one-millisecond exposures to random polygon targets have been shown to result in preference for the target shapes over similar distractor shapes in the absence of recognition (Knust-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980). Seamon, Brody, and Kauff (1983a) interpreted this preference-without-recognition effect in terms of a two-process model of recognition memory. The present set of experiments tested three predictions of the two-process model: Target discrimination equal to that found in the preference task should also occur when subjects make familiarity judgments; recognition performance should improve if the target stimuli are presented and tested with an easily encodable visual context; and both preference and familiarity judgments should be unaffected by manipulations of context. The results supported all three predictions. The implications of the results for a competing model proposed by Zajonc (1980) are also discussed.