Exposure to novel stimuli increases one's liking for such stimuli. Response competition is one theory attempting to account for this effect: as a stimulus becomes more familiar, competing responses drop out in favor of one dominant response and the stimulus becomes better liked. Imagery ability refers to the regeneration of responses during cognitive activity that would occur in an actual action or perceptual context. This study independently varied exposure frequency and response competition, and looked at the mediating effect of imagery ability on each. Undergraduate students (N=68) pronounced aloud three-syllable Turkish words, either accenting same syllable each time (no response competition), or accenting different syllables during different pronunciations (response competition). After several pronunciations, subjects rated each word. Subjects completed the Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery; a median split divided subjects into good and poor imagers. The typical mere exposure effect was not found unless response competition and imagery ability were taken into account. With no response competition, good imagers showed the mere exposure effect; poor imagers did not. Response competition eliminated the effect in good imagers. Poor imagers finally showed the exposure-liking effect with a large number of exposures. Good imagers were more sensitive than poor imagers to the mere exposure effect and to the influence of response competition on stimulus evaluation. (NB)