peripheral learning
Because there is resistance to terms such as "subliminal," "manipulation," and other words that seem to some to load the discussion, I'd suggest an intial study of the concepts of brain-based learning and especially "peripheral learning."
An understanding of all this is crucial, IMO, to this entire thread.
Here are some links to get you started.
I find just the section titles as listed below the first link to be quite illuminating. Statements such as "Learning Involves Both focused Attention and Peripheral Perception" go a long way toward giving us a clue as to what happens when humans and media meet.
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http://www.unocoe.unomaha.edu/brainbased.htm
Principles of Brain-Based Learning
Developed by the Combined Elementary Task Forces of the Metropolitan Omaha Educational Consortium (MOEC), Omaha, NE: University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1999
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Brain is a Parallel Processor
Learning Engages the Entire Physiology
The Search for Meaning is Innate
The Search for Meaning Occurs Through "Patterning"
Emotions are Critical to Patterning
The Brain Processes Parts and Wholes Simultaneously
Learning Involves Both focused Attention and Peripheral Perception
Learning Always Involves Conscious and Unconscious Processes
We Have at Least Two Ways of Organizing Memory: A Spatial Memory System and a Set of Systems for Rote Learning
We Understand and Remember Best When Facts and Skills are Embedded in Natural, Spatial Memory
Complex Learning is Enhanced by Challenge and Inhibited by Threat
Every Brain is Uniquely Organized
Additional Resources on Brain Research and Learning
Websites
Classrooms and Schools Practicing Brain-Based Learning
Brain-Based Learning Committee
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Here's another fascinating way to state some of the items covered in this thread:
http://www.progressiveawareness.org/...Reference.html
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When I started this thread, I titled it suggestively because this is journalism.
Those of you who are interested in understanding the many ramifications of media and its effect on the human brain, human perception, and human behavior can find endless links via search engines on the subject of how we learn.