Stimulus Recognition May Mediate Exposure Effects

Moreland and Zajonc presented stimuli with differential numbers of exposures to subjects and obtained measures of affect (e.g., ratings of liking) and ratings of familiarity. Exposure frequency and ratings of familiarity were both significant predictors of affect in a multiple regression equation. Moreland and Zajonc concluded that there are two independent effects, and thus the exposure effect could not be explained by a stimulus recognition factor alone. However, these results can be explained by the theory that exposure frequency affects a single mediator that is imperfectly correlated with ratings of familiarity and affect. Thus, the null hypothesis that recognition mediates the exposure effect cannot be refuted by the partial correlation and regression analyses of Moreland and Zajonc.