Distinguishing detection from identification in subliminal auditory perception: a review and critique of Merikle's study.

Assertions made by Merikle (1988) regarding audio subliminal messages were tested. Seventeen participants were presented subliminal messages embedded in a white-noise cover, and three signal-to-noise (S/N) detection ratios were examined. Participants were asked to guess message presence and message content, to determine subjective/objective thresholds. Results showed that participants were unable to identify target words presented in this audio subliminal stimulus format beyond chance levels.