subliminal perception

the registration of stimuli below the level of awareness, particularly stimuli that are too weak (or too rapid) for an individual to consciously perceive them. There has been much debate about whether responses to subliminal stimuli actually occur and whether it is possible for subliminal commands or advertising messages to influence behavior. Experimental evidence indicates that subliminal commands may not directly affect behavior but may prime later responses (see subliminal priming). Compare supraliminal perception.

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Psychology term of the day

December 23rd 2024

Type II error

the error of failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is in fact not true. Investigators make this error if they conclude that a particular effect or relationship does not exist when in fact it does. The probability of committing a Type II error is called the beta (β) level of a test. Conversely, the probability of not committing a Type II error (i.e., of detecting a genuinely significant difference between samples) is called the power of the test, where power = 1 – β. Also called beta error.