Investigating the Impact of Subliminal Perception on Decision-Making: An Experimental Study

The word "subliminal" in Latin means "below the threshold," indicating that stimuli below this threshold cannot be consciously perceived. Subliminal stimuli refer to any sensory inputs below an individual's threshold for conscious awareness. In this study, an experiment was designed using PsychoPy software, an open-source package for running Python-based experiments. A within-group design was employed with a total of 75 participants, selected through purposive sampling. The results indicate a relationship between subliminal image presentation and participants' decision-making. The number of correct responses for experimental pictures was higher than the random responses for control pictures. No significant differences were observed in responses to dual-modality pictures (i.e., text with symbol or symbol alone). The study also found evidence of memory and recognition for material subliminally exposed to participants. Additionally, as the number of trials increased, results suggested that learning may have occurred.