La Sapienza - Università di Roma

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a method that has been developed for studying the strengths of associations between concepts.

The IAT is carried out on a computer. A stimulus appears on the screen and the participant should classify it as quickly and accurately as possible. Whenever a stimulus appears on the screen, the participant should categorize it to the reference category.

In the IAT the participants provide their responses by pressing only two keys of the keyboard, therefore each key has a response category.

The IAT is based on the idea that it should be easier and quicker to associate a concept with an attribute when both are strongly correlated in memory than when they are weakly associated.

These are the main areas where IAT is used:

• Neuroscience
• Neuromarketing
• Psychology
• Market research
• Decision making
• Law
• Human factors