Approaching the familiar: On the ability of mere exposure to direct approach and avoidance behavior

The mere-exposure literature has shown that familiar objects are preferred to novel objects. However, no work has definitively
shown that mere exposure can direct and facilitate approach movements. In Experiment 1, participants were shown stimuli and
were later re-exposed to them along with novel stimuli. Participants were directed to make an approach or avoidant motion
to each and response times were recorded. As predicted, participants were quicker to approach and slower to avoid familiar
relative to novel stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants were shown mere-exposed and novel symbols and were asked to “push”
or “pull” a joystick in response to each, based on their intuition. Extending Experiment 1’s findings, participants freely
selected an approach response more frequently for familiar compared to novel stimuli. Moreover, in this same experiment, familiar
stimuli were judged as more likeable than were novel stimuli, and participants’ liking for familiar stimuli correlated with
the frequency with which they were approached. Implications of these findings are discussed.