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Research Article

Exploring the Subjective Feeling of Fluency

Published Online:March 29, 2016https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000311

Abstract

Abstract. According to the processing fluency theory, higher ease of processing a stimulus leads to higher feelings of fluency and more positive evaluations. However, it is unclear whether feelings of fluency are positive or an unspecific activation and whether feelings of fluency are directly attributed to the stimulus even without much positive feelings. In two experiments, we tested how variations in the ease of processing influenced feelings of fluency and affect, in terms of evaluations (Exp. 1) and physiological responses (Exp. 2). Higher feelings of fluency were associated with more positive stimulus ratings and did not affect stimulus arousal ratings, but perceivers’ feelings showed higher felt arousal ratings and left felt valence ratings unaffected. Physiological indices only showed small effects of a subtle positive reaction. These findings show that feelings of fluency can be sources of positive object evaluations, but do not affect one’s own positive feelings.

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