Across forty blocks of trials, words were alternately imaged and apperceived on trials 1–6 and subliminally perceived on trial 7. Thereafter, one word from trial 1–7 was paired with a distractor, and forty-five subjects selected either the word “perceived” during trials 1–7 or the word “experienced (imaged or perceived)” during trials 1–7. The probability of recognizing subliminal words as “perceived” was chance; the probability of recognizing subliminal words as “experienced” was above chance. This result is consistent with Fechner's definition of “the subliminal” as conscious sensation below the limen for apperception or self-consciousness that one is perceiving.
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