Recognition memory and affective preference for depth-rotated solid objects: Part-based structural descriptions may underlie the mere exposure effect

Following Biederman and Gerhardstein (1993) and Srinivas (1995), we tested whether different representations are necessary to describe explicit and implicit memory performance for depth-rotated solid objects in the mere exposure paradigm. Subjects were presented with novel three-dimensional objects, followed by an explicit recognition memory or an implicit affective preference test. In Experiment 1, recognition memory but not affective preference was impaired by an 80° depth rotation of the objects between study and test. In Experiment 2, when subjects had to discriminate between 0° and 80° views of previously studied objects, recognition memory was greater than chance but affective performance was not. These findings imply that the representations used for recognition memory coded depth orientation information, whereas those used for affective preference did not. The results are discussed in terms of viewpoint-specific and viewpoint-invariant representations for explicit and implicit memory.