Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect
The mere exposure effect refers to an affective preference elicited by exposure to previously unfamiliar items. Although it is a well-established finding, its mechanism remains uncertain, with some positing that it reflects affective processes and others positing that it reflects perceptual or motor...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Frontiers Research Foundation
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98184 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1221-3014 |
| _version_ | 1811071548081045504 |
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| author | Gabrieli, John D. E. Ladd, Sandra |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Gabrieli, John D. E. Ladd, Sandra |
| author_sort | Gabrieli, John D. E. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The mere exposure effect refers to an affective preference elicited by exposure to previously unfamiliar items. Although it is a well-established finding, its mechanism remains uncertain, with some positing that it reflects affective processes and others positing that it reflects perceptual or motor fluency with repeated items. Here we examined whether individual differences in trait and state anxiety, which have been associated with the experience of emotion, influence the mere exposure effect. Participants’ trait (Study 1) and state (Study 2) anxiety were characterized with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Greater trait and state anxiety correlated with greater negative affect and lesser positive affect. In both experiments, greater anxiety was associated with a reduced mere exposure effect. Measures of fluency (response times at study and test) were unrelated to the mere exposure effect. These findings support the role of affective processes in the mere exposure effect, and offer a new insight into the nature of anxiety such that anxiety is associated with a reduced experience of positive affect typically associated with familiarity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:52:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98184 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:52:55Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Frontiers Research Foundation |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/981842022-09-30T11:52:55Z Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect Gabrieli, John D. E. Ladd, Sandra Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT Ladd, Sandra Gabrieli, John D. E. The mere exposure effect refers to an affective preference elicited by exposure to previously unfamiliar items. Although it is a well-established finding, its mechanism remains uncertain, with some positing that it reflects affective processes and others positing that it reflects perceptual or motor fluency with repeated items. Here we examined whether individual differences in trait and state anxiety, which have been associated with the experience of emotion, influence the mere exposure effect. Participants’ trait (Study 1) and state (Study 2) anxiety were characterized with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Greater trait and state anxiety correlated with greater negative affect and lesser positive affect. In both experiments, greater anxiety was associated with a reduced mere exposure effect. Measures of fluency (response times at study and test) were unrelated to the mere exposure effect. These findings support the role of affective processes in the mere exposure effect, and offer a new insight into the nature of anxiety such that anxiety is associated with a reduced experience of positive affect typically associated with familiarity. 2015-08-21T15:07:27Z 2015-08-21T15:07:27Z 2015-05 2015-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1664-1078 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98184 Ladd, Sandra L., and John D. E. Gabrieli. “Trait and State Anxiety Reduce the Mere Exposure Effect.” Front. Psychol. 6 (May 28, 2015). https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1221-3014 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00701 Frontiers in Psychology Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Frontiers Research Foundation Frontiers Research Foundation |
| spellingShingle | Gabrieli, John D. E. Ladd, Sandra Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect |
| title | Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect |
| title_full | Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect |
| title_fullStr | Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect |
| title_short | Trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect |
| title_sort | trait and state anxiety reduce the mere exposure effect |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98184 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1221-3014 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gabrielijohnde traitandstateanxietyreducethemereexposureeffect AT laddsandra traitandstateanxietyreducethemereexposureeffect |