For a very long time, the subliminal message market has been dominated by audio subliminal message programs on tape or CD. With recent advancements in video technology– especially on computers– subliminal messages are now being delivered in a visual format. There are some distinct advantages to this approach, and some pitfalls. This article will discuss the basic techniques used in visual subliminal message programs and explain their goals and how they work.

 

The Basics of Perception

We perceive our world through five senses, two of which are primary– visual and aural. The modern world is a busy and complex place, and the conscious mind would go into overload if it considered every experience delivered by the senses. Much of the information passes right past the conscious mind and is handled by the unconscious mind, which is estimated to be many times more powerful and more functional at sorting and storing sensory input.

Thus, we perceive on two levels, supraliminally and subliminally.

Supraliminal perception is perception that is experienced both consciously and unconsciously. You are experiencing supraliminal perception while reading this page. You are reading the words, making conscious decisions about them, and the same words are perceived unconsciously where they are associated and stored in memory for later use.

Subliminal perception is perception that is experienced only unconsciously. While the senses perceive an event, the conscious mind is either distracted or otherwise ignores the information and therefore makes no decisions about it. When you are walking down a street and a taxi cab drives by with the phone number printed on the side, you perceive the information (you see it), but it is a case of subliminal perception because consciously, you take no notice (for whatever reason). Perception has occurred, and information is stored in your memory by the unconscious mind. You may “magically” recall the phone number later, but that is because you perceived it and stored it in memory without conscious knowledge or effort.

 

How Subliminal Messages Work in the Mind.

Subliminal message programs– both audio and visual — rely on subliminal perception to bypass the conscious mind in order to deliver to the unconscious mind certain thoughts, ideas and information. This has been shown in scientific studies to be an effective means for altering self-perception and enhancing self-improvement. However, it cannot ever be used effectively for “mind control”. It only works when the individual is interested and willing to receive the subliminal messages.

The technique of delivering subliminal messages to unwilling recipients is called subliminal persuasion, and studies have shown it to have little or no effect– contrary to popular and sensationalized myth.

Subliminal perception is effective for self-improvement because the conscious mind takes direction and makes decisions from the unconscious mind. But it also feeds back information to the unconscious mind– a type of dialog, as in a dream.

If you have low self-esteem, part of the cause is negative self-perception that the conscious mind tends to support. When a positive self-perception message is delivered to the conscious mind, this creates cognitive dissonance, and the tendency is for the conscious mind to devalue or negate the positive message (i.e. “I don’t believe it.”) which the unconscious mind then records.

Take for example the positive message: “I am a valuable person”. This is a simple truth. All people have value. But a person with low self-esteem may feel that he or she has little or no value because of experiences, messages and ideas (such as “You’re worthless.”) already recorded in the unconscious mind.

If the conscious mind says “I don’t believe it”, then what unconscious mind records is: “I don’t believe I am a valuable person.” Thus the negative self-perception is reinforced.

When that same message is delivered via subliminal perception, the conscious mind cannot attach a statement or thought to it. So the unconscious mind records: “I am a valuable person.”

This contradicts the self-perception “You’re worthless”. Because it is a contradiction, it is recorded as a separate self-perception. So now you have two perceptions of yourself: “I am a valuable person” and “You’re worthless.”

To the unconscious mind, BOTH messages are equally valid. It makes no distinction, they are simply information about the self.

Since the mind is self-centered (it has to be), an “I message” is stronger than a “you message”. The message “I am a valuable person” has a higher significance to the unconscious mind than the “You’re worthless” message.

Since subliminal message programs deliver many repetitions of a subliminal message (often called an affirmation), the unconscious mind eventually has a large number of “I am a valuable person” messages which will be chosen in self-perception over the fewer instances of “You’re worthless.” It’s a numbers game. The unconscious mind goes for the larger number of messages. (reinforcement).

This is the basis of subliminal messaging– no matter what the delivery method (audio or visual).

 

Visual Subliminal Messages and Delivery Methods.

While the goal of visual subliminal message self-help or self-improvement programs is the same as those of audio subliminal message programs, the delivery technique is quite different and has certain specific needs that must be met in order to be effective. To understand that we must first look into the structure and function of the human eye.

 

The Human Eye

The human eye receives light through a lens which directs it at the retina located at the back of the eye “ball”. The retina is made up of millions of receptor cells called “Rods” and “Cones”. Rods deal with light luminance and black, white and gray information. Cones manage color perception. Because color is difficult to perceive in low light conditions, at such times, rods become very important in visual perception.

However, both receptors are usually highly sensitive, which allows us to distinguish many “tones” or shades, color tints and so on. Too much exposure of any one color, or tone, or light causes a “residual effect” called persistence of vision.

If you have ever had your picture taken with a flash, you know this experience as your eye tends to “see” the light of the flash long after the flash experience. In nature, the intensity and “tone” of colors and images is highly varied, so the persistence of vision is greatly reduced, although not entirely eliminated. Persistence of vision also makes it possible to enjoy movies without seeing the “flicker” of the film frames.

The visual image within the film frame has light, thus it stimulates the rods and cones of the retina. The frame is black, has no light, and does not stimulate these receptors. Persistence of vision makes the “light” image remain in the visual perception until the next visual frame (stimulating) appears.

When the receptors (the rods and cones) are stimulated by light, they pass a signal to the optic nerve, which transmits it to the brain where the information is processed. This signal is constantly varied just as the light image is constantly varied. Thus the visual signal stimulates “interest”. There is much to consider and process in the mind.

The mind processes visual information as forms and shapes and the unconscious mind processes and categorizes visual information by association. A human development, written language — more importantly — reading is directly affected by this form of perception.

 

How We Read

Once we know how to read– have developed the skill through practice and study– we do not read words by individual letter shapes, but rather by scanning. The eye scans a word as a shape. The unconscious mind finds a shape in memory that most closely resembles it and delivers back the recorded meaning to the conscious mind.

With typed words, this is relatively easy because the letter forms and shapes of words are standardized and we develop a high degree of recognition. With handwriting, which is highly individualistic, it is much more difficult. Some script typefaces are difficult to read because the letter forms are not easily recognized, so we look at them longer trying to “figure them out.”

Visual subliminal messages are meaningful to the human eye– even when delivered at a high speed (short exposure)– because of this shape recognition. And, the clearer the type face for the medium, the more effective the message because it is more easily perceived.

It has been studied and found that certain letter shapes and sizes are much more easily perceived and recognized on a computer monitor than others. Visual subliminal message programs must take that into account in order to be effective. Programs that allow users to “set the type face” are prone to ineffectiveness because users do not know the proper type style and size for easy visual recognition.

 

Visual Subliminal Message Speed of Impression

In the 1950’s there was a sensation when it was announced that a movie theater had substituted “Buy Popcorn” messages in certain frames of a film and thus boosted concession sales. This became the basis for many myths about subliminal messages and mind control. It was taken so seriously that laws were passed forbidding the practice.

But many years later, the perpetrators of the hoax admitted that there was absolutely no evidence that the substituted frames in the film had indeed caused an increase in concession sales. In fact, in one case where they claimed to have increased the sale of soft drinks through “subliminal persuasion”, the theater manager admitted to lowering the air conditioning!

However, this did open the door for scientific study of visual subliminal perception in Universities, hospitals and even by United States government agencies, and many positive results were discovered. While it was found in many studies that the hoax method was completely ineffective, other supportable and beneficial aspects of visual subliminal messages were discovered.

It has been found and replicated in scientific studies that under certain conditions, visual subliminal messages do have a positive effect on self administered behavioral modification. The speed at which these messages are exposed (the “timing”) has been found to be a range of effective times, not a single figure.

The myth that a visual subliminal message must be exposed for exactly 1/24th of a second (the film speed at the time of the hoax) was shown to be false. In fact, there is a range of exposure times (measured in milliseconds) that make subliminal messages effective.

The timing also depends on the rest of the subliminal message program, so it is not an isolated variable. Visual subliminal message programs that allow users to adjust the timing of subliminal message exposure are prone to ineffectiveness because the range allowed far exceeds what scientific studies have found to be effective, and the randomness of the user picking the correct exposure time within the effective range is very high. In other words, with such programs, it’s a game of chance.

 

Visual Subliminal Message Masking

Just as audio subliminal messages use an audio “mask” over or under the subliminal messages, so too visual subliminal message programs depend on a “mask”. The quality and type of “mask” makes a difference in effectiveness.

The “mask” serves two purposes. One is to keep the user consciously interested enough to pay attention to the program, and the other is to “hide” or “distract” the subliminal message from the conscious mind.

Scientific studies have been done of various visual masking methods as well as the use of no mask at all.

Background images were studied ranging from cartoons to slide shows of still images to movies. These were found to be the least effective of all masking methods because of unconscious associations with the masking images which generated associative dissonance with the content of the subliminal messages themselves, and even worked contrary to them.

One flaw of using a complex image mask (i.e. a movie) was that the words of the subliminal message weren’t visually clear at times. If you’ve ever seen a movie with subtitles, and they are superimposed over the film instead of in a black box at the bottom of the screen, you know the problem. A complex visual image has many areas of dark and light, but the subtitle is always white. So those parts of the subtitle superimposed over a light area of the film are indistinguishable.

Visual subliminal programs that expose subliminal messages over a complex visual background (i.e. a running computer application, such as a word processor) are prone to ineffectiveness for this and another important reason.

Superimposing a visual subliminal message on the computer screen while a word processor (or any form of text display) is being used is particularly prone to ineffectiveness. Because the mind recognizes words by shape, the superimposition of word shapes on top of each other creates nothing more than visual noise. Here is an example:

I always ignore unreasonable criticism.

Can you read what this sentence says?

I always ignore unreasonable criticism.

Can you read what this sentence says?

In this case, a simple “strike through” interferes with word recognition. With some typefaces, the word: “sentence” is difficult to understand when it has the “strike through” because the “strike through” blurs the distinction between the letters E and C. It would be far worse if there were two different sentences superimposed one on top of the other. The eye would perceive the image, but the mind would not have any recognizable shape for reference. Thus, the subliminal message would be lost in the noise.

Visual subliminal messages must be clearly distinguishable from the background or they will have no recognition and no effectiveness. They will be visual noise.

Some studies of visual subliminal perception used simple blue screens (no mask) and had the subliminal messages flash at the appropriate intervals and exposure times. In these studies, the lack of any masking caused the subjects to become so bored that they looked away from the screen and thus did not perceive the subliminal messages.

Other studies found that the use of abstract moving shapes provided the best effect. The mask of shapes stimulated conscious interest, and they had no associative interference with the subliminal messages.

 

Visual Subliminal Message Program Time

Audio subliminal message programs have a limited time factor due to the medium. For example, an audio cassette tape can only run for 30, 60 or 90 minutes. CDs have similar time constraints. This is a natural limitation of the audio subliminal message program that actually works to its advantage.

University and hospital studies found that prolonged exposure times to a set of subliminal messages in one session were not particularly effective. They found that an exposure time (per session) of 15 to 30 minutes was the most effective, with repeated sessions at the shorter (15 minute) time showing the best results.

A visual subliminal message program needs to have a time limit imposed to be effective. The true effectiveness of any subliminal message program comes from repeated use over a long period of time (several days or even weeks), not the exposure time of a single session.

Some visual subliminal message programs run continuously in the background on a computer. This technique is prone to ineffectiveness because the exposure is simply too long, and is not by choice. Such programs are always delivering subliminal messages and there is no evidence to support this “over exposure”. It also uses up computer processing power which on many machines is at a premium. Some of the programs cannot be turned off, so they become invasive of the user’s experience at the computer. And, since they do not distinguish who is using the computer, they can deliver content to someone who does not want that content.

A dedicated visual subliminal perception program with a limited session time avoids these mistakes and is the most effective means of providing the user with a lasting and empowering experience.

 

Visual Subliminal Message Content

Both audio and visual subliminal message content is highly important and must be worded correctly to be effective. The messages must be targeted towards one specific goal, although they can express that goal in different words and sentences.

Studies where subliminal messages were targeted at several goals (i.e. self-esteem and weight loss) in the same session had lower effectiveness because they were confusing to the unconscious mind.

While there is a logical overlap of some concepts of both targets (i.e. you will increase your self-esteem naturally by controlling your weight), the deliberate delivery of multiple topics and messages in a single subliminal message session is not very effective and can even become annoying and generate a sense of uneasy confusion. It is similar to looking at a wall of TVs all tuned to a different channel.

Another important factor is to target the subliminal message at the goal.

In order for the subliminal message to be effective, it must relate to a specific condition to have meaning. A subliminal message such as: “I think big” is meaningless. It has no target, it has no goal, it has no definition.

This leaves the unconscious mind open to associating the message with any number of conditions, some of which might actually be harmful. If, for example, it associated it with food intake, one may actually consume MORE food than is healthy as a result of this misdirected subliminal message.

The mistake of using an untargeted subliminal message such as “I think big” in a subliminal message program is the assumption that the unconscious mind will associate the message with all the others received in the program. This is not the case. The unconscious records each message as discrete, not interconnected.

Another meaningless subliminal message is: “I feel good.” This is not an affirmation or a targeted message. It is a statement of being which can change many times a day. Therefore, it is meaningless and ineffective as a subliminal message.

The same statement, when targeted, can be highly effective: “I feel good when I take care of my body through exercise.” In this case, there is a proper association that the unconscious mind can understand. There is an emotional goal (I feel good) under a specific condition (when I take care of my body through exercise.) This is motivating. So the user will do two things. He or she will be motivated to exercise in order to feel good, and when he or she exercises, he or she will feel good.

The user of audio subliminal message programs can only “hear” the content of the subliminal messages as they were recorded. Therefore, it is the job of the producer to ensure that the subliminal messages are accurately targeted to a specific goal. Visual subliminal message programs carry the same requirement.

Computer generated visual subliminal message programs can provide the user an opportunity to create his or her own subliminal messages. This is not a good idea. A visual subliminal message program that allows users to write their own subliminal messages (called affirmations) places them at some risk. Most people do not know how to write a properly targeted affirmation in language that the unconscious mind will use effectively.

 

Visual Subliminal Message Outreach

One area of human outreach that is exemplified by visual subliminal message programs is providing the hearing handicapped with subliminal messaging opportunities and experiences. Audio subliminal message programs obviously cannot do this, although they can be of great benefit to people with visual handicaps.

The term, “hearing impaired” covers a wide range of hearing difficulties, from tinnitus to complete deafness. The frequency at which many audio subliminal message programs are recorded also makes them ineffective for people with mild or even natural hearing loss.

As people get older, their hearing becomes affected. Many lose some degree of high frequency hearing ability. Some audio subliminal message programs use higher frequencies to deliver subliminal messages. Others lose the ability to distinguish similar sounds at the same level of intensity. So even a person who thinks he or she has “good hearing” may actually miss audio subliminal messages.

A visual subliminal message program avoids this issue entirely, but it does depend on the user’s ability to comfortably read text on a computer monitor.

A visual subliminal message program is also more effective when there is no soundtrack. Sound is associative (and this is a drawback and matter of some concern to those who make audio subliminal message programs).

If the visual subliminal message program is silent then it makes NO difference if the person viewing it is capable of hearing or not. As long as the person has standard reading comprehension, the program will be as effective for him or her as it will be for a person who has no hearing disability.

 

Conclusion

Visual subliminal message programs rely on subliminal perception and need to follow a complex set of criteria to be effective for users. Scientific studies have demonstrated that they can be highly effective, in some cases more so than auditory subliminal message programs. Their effectiveness depends on a number of controllable variables that must be properly taken into account.

This article has outlined some of these criteria and the reasons why they exist. It is by no means an exhaustive report of the subject, but an introduction to help educate and inform about this fascinating area of subliminal messaging.

 

ClydeSight Productions Brain Wave Stimulating Digital Subliminal Perception Programs have been developed based on scientific research in the area of visual subliminal message programming techniques. They contain no soundtrack and therefore are as effective for the hearing impaired as they are for the hearing enabled. They are also advised for suitability of content by certified hypnotherapist John Murray to ensure the proper wording and targeting of the subliminal messages. For more information about these programs, please visit our web site at: http://www.clydesight.com/DSPP