Effects of frequency, duration of study trial, and total duration of exposure on affective judgments.

Abstract

Studies of frequency and duration of exposure of stimuli, e.g., Chinese characters, Turkish words, faces, paintings, have traditionally been factorial, resulting in confounding among the parameters of frequency, duration of study trial, and total duration of exposure. This study attempted to separate the effects of these variables on affective ratings. 60 male and female introductory psychology students served as subjects. The stimuli were slides of female nudes. There were three comparison conditions, each of which was itself a within-subjects design in which two levels of two variables were established and repeated measures made for a given subject. Subjects viewed the slides and then rated them on attractiveness. Results indicate that, if total duration of exposure is held constant, no changes in judgments of attractiveness occur whereas, if total duration increases and duration of study trial or frequency increases concurrently, increases in ratings of attractiveness, or affect, will occur.