Implicit preference to memorized items : Assessing by the Implicit Association Test

Abstract

Twenty-four male participants studied five consonant alphabets. They then performed an Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) that combined a recognition judgment (old vs. new) and a valence judgment (pleasant vs. unpleasant). Faster and more accurate responses were observed when old judgments and pleasant judgments share a same response key than when old judgments and unpleasant judgments share a same response key. These results indicated that the studied items were associated with a positive evaluation. The results were discussed in terms of related phenomena, such as a mere acceptance effect. Some theoretical implications about the relationship between memory and affect were also discussed.