The Hidden Arrow in the FedEx Logo: Do We Really Unconsciously "See" It?

Autor/inn/en	Ke, Shih-Chiang; Gupta, Ankit; Lo, Yu-Hui; Ting, Chih-Chung; Tseng, Philip
Titel	The Hidden Arrow in the FedEx Logo: Do We Really Unconsciously "See" It?
Quelle	In: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8 (2023), Artikel 40 (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Tseng, Philip)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
DOI	10.1186/s41235-023-00494-x
Schlagwörter	Visual Perception; Cues; Cognitive Processes; Prior Learning; Attention; Knowledge Level; Visual Stimuli; Foreign Countries; Signs; North America; Taiwan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Visuelle Wahrnehmung; Stichwort; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Vorkenntnisse; Aufmerksamkeit; Wissensbasis; Ausland; Zeichensystem; Nordamerika
Abstract	The FedEx logo makes clever use of figure-ground ambiguity to create an "invisible" arrow in the background space between "E" and "x". Most designers believe the hidden arrow can convey an unconscious impression of speed and precision about the FedEx brand, which may influence subsequent behavior. To test this assumption, we designed similar images with hidden arrows to serve as endogenous (but camouflaged) directional cues in a Posner's orienting task, where a cueing effect would suggest subliminal processing of the hidden arrow. Overall, we observed no cue congruency effect, unless the arrow is explicitly highlighted (Experiment 4). However, there was a general effect of prior knowledge: when people were under pressure to suppress background information, those who knew about the arrow could do so faster in all congruence conditions (i.e., neutral, congruent, incongruent), although they fail to report seeing the arrow during the experiment. This was true in participants from North America who had heard of the FedEx arrow before (Experiment 1 & 3), and also in our Taiwanese sample who were just informed of such design (Experiment 2). These results can be well explained by the Biased Competition Model in figure-ground research, and together suggest: (1) people do not unconsciously perceive the FedEx arrow, at least not enough to exhibit a cueing effect in attention, but (2) knowing about the arrow can fundamentally change the way we visually process these negative-space logos in the future, making people react faster to images with negative space regardless of the hidden content. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01