Effect of the Correlational Attributes on Mere Exposure in Concept Formation

This study examined the effect that correlational attributes that promote concept formation gives to mere expsure effect for prototypes. Using the mere exposure (e.g., Zajonc, 1968) and the concept formation paradigms (e.g., Barsalou et al., 1999), Matsuda and Kusumi (2002, 2003) elucidated three points concerning. First, it was found out that concept formation with repeated exposure builds a prototype and is based on specific events. Second, prototypical stimuli that integrate the dimensions of each individual case are preferred if the value of that dimension is weighted. Third, the prototype of the concept exists independently of exact exemplars. In those studies, Matsuda and Kusumi used the same combination of values for each dimension in their experiment’s study phase. However, given the importance of correlational attributes in concept formation (McRae et al., 1999; Wattenmaker, 1993), the investigation of this effect is warranted. In order to examine whether the correlational attributes increase the mere exposure effect or not, in this study, the unit of repetitive presentation was changed from an image unit to a dimension unit.