A functional explanation for the effects of visual exposure on preference

Abstract

Visual exposure to an object can modulate an observer's degree of preference for it, initially enhancing preference (a `familiarity preference' regime), and eventually lowering it again (a `novelty preference' regime). Here we investigate whether there may be a functional advantage to modulating preference in this way. We put forth the simple hypothesis that degree of preference for an object of type X is the brain's estimate of the expected utility of acting to obtain X. In the light of this view of what preferences fundamentally represent, we are able to explain the `exposure effect' and many of the connected phenomena.