Psycholigists Robert Zajonc where exposed two groups of non-Chinese-speaking subjects to a series of five Chinese ideographs; one group received five exposures to the symbols, while the other group just got one. In all cases, the exposures lasted only five milliseconds or less, too fast to be processed consciously. Then, Zajonc showed the subjects a larger group of images which included the original set as well as new ideographs and other symbols. The subjects were allowed to view the images for a full second, more than enough time to be conscious of seeing them, and asked how much they liked each one. The subjects who received five subliminal exposures to an ideograph liked it much better than the subjects who had seen it only once. (Oddly, the high exposure group generally rated other images as more likable and and were in a measurably happier mood, too.) The conclusion was that the presence of familiar things, even when we are unaware of the exposure, makes us feel better.
This basically means you can view an image for a second over and over again and associate positive feelings with it due to a sense of familiarity. You don't even have to be aware that you were exposed to the image! Hmmm makes you think, are things being flashed in commercials?
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