Subliminal stimuli - Wikipedia

Subliminal stimuli (/s ʌ b ˈ l ɪ m ɪ n əl / ; sub- literally "below" or "less than")[ 1] are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception, in contrast to supraliminal stimuli (above threshold).[ 2]

In 1957, the American cinematographer James Vicary claimed to have increased the sales of Coca-Cola by inserting in his cinema's movies some frames with "Drink Coca-Cola!" written on it. Five years later, however, he admitted to having inflated his results somewhat by including certain data that were labeled scientifically unreliable.[ 3] However, Vicary's claim increased scientific interest in subliminal messages.

Indeed, subliminal stimulation is now accepted as a legitimate research field in the scientific literature. A 2012 review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies showed that subliminal stimuli activate specific regions of the brain despite participants' unawareness,[ 4] a result corroborated in a meta-analysis from 2023[ 5] concerning subliminal stimulation in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an individual can process them, or flashed and then masked to interrupt processing. Audio stimuli may be played below audible volumes or masked by other stimuli.

Applications of subliminal stimuli are often based on the persuasiveness of a message. Research on action priming has shown that subliminal stimuli can only trigger actions a receiver of the message plans to perform anyway. However, consensus of subliminal messaging remains unsubstantiated by other research. Most actions can be triggered subliminally only if the person is already prepared to perform a specific action.[ 6]

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