Chapter 4:
Memory and Cognitive
Learning
Memory . . .
. . . affects the exposure,
attention, and comprehension
stages
. . . allows consumers to
anticipate the stimuli they might
encounter
Multiple-Store Model of
Memory
Three different types of memory
storage:
Sensory Memory
Short-Term Memory
Long-Term Memory
Sensory memory-
Preattention stage
where a stimulus briefly analyzed to
determine if it will receive additional
processing.
Short-term memory-Information
temporarily stored while people are actively
processing it. [Link] in a computer.
Long-term memory- Connected to shortterm memory through encoding and
retrieval processes.
E.g. disk drive in a computer.
Memory works like parallel processors.
Encoding -Transfer of information
from short-term to long-term for
permanent storage.
Retrieval -Process of accessing
information from long-term
memory to be utilized in short-term
memory.
Constructive process.
Information in ads received after
product experience can change the
perception.
Sensory Memory . . .
. . . consists of
firing of nerve
cells, short-term
in duration,
usually less than
a second.
Short-Term Memory. . .
. . . is the site where information is
temporarily stored while being
processed. Is also called working
memory.
Rehearsal is silently repeating
information to encode it into long-term
memory.
If information in short-term memory is
not rehearsed it is lost within 30 seconds.
Involvement & Short-Term
Capacity
High involvement -more arousal,
attentive, expanding the short-term
memory
capacity to full 7 +/-2 bits.
Low involvement -low arousal levels
,consumer focuses relatively little
memory capacity on the stimulus.
capacity is at 5 +/1 bits.
Time Required to Transfer
Information Is Influenced
by . . .
. . . the consumer's
goal to either
recognize or recall a
task. It requires more
time to encode
information sufficiently
for a recall task.
Recognition and Recall
Recognition tasks -information placed
before the [Link] --to determine if
the information has been seen before.
Recall tasks ---Consumer must retrieve
the information from long-term memory
without any prompting.
Requires greater depth of encoding.
Recall impacts size of the consideration
set, (deemed satisfactory options)
Long-Term Memory
. . . has essentially unlimited capacity to
store information permanently.
Stored information -- semantic or visual.
Semantic --encoding & storage of words &
meanings.
Visual --- images.
Long term memory -Permanent.
Relative Superiority of
Picture Versus Word
Visuals- more memorable than verbal
Memory
counterparts, especially for low-involvement
Words with high-imagery content easier to
encode and retrieve than words low in
imagery and concreteness.
Words and pictures should complement
each other in ads.
Verbal material is better recalled in high
involvement conditions.
Memory-Control
Processes . . .
. . . are the methods
of handling
information which
may operate
consciously or
unconsciously to
influence the
encoding, placement,
and retrieval of
information.
Retrieval and Response
Generation
Response generation-Person develops a
response by actively reconstructing the
stimulus.
Information received after exposure to a
stimulus (e.g., ads) impacts response
generation of original stimulus.
Retrieval cues create a response by
providing a means of assisting active
reconstruction of stimulus.
Consumer Knowledge . . .
. . . is the amount of experience with
and information a person has about
particular products or services.
As knowledge increases, a consumer can
think about a product across a greater
number of dimensions and make finer
distinctions between brands.
Three Types of Knowledge:
Objective -- correct information
about a product class that a
consumer has stored in long-term
memory
Subjective--- consumers perception
of what or how much he or she
knows about a product class.
Knowledge of others --what
information a consumer knows about
another.
How Do Consumers Gain
Knowledge?
Cognitive Learning: process
of forming associations,
solving problems, and
gaining insights.
Learning Through Education.
Learning Through
Experience. Actual
contact/use of products.
Gestalt Theory of Cognitive
Knowledge
11 3
Gestalt psychologists believe that biological
and psychological events do not influence
behavior
in isolation of each other.
People perceive the inputs from the
environment as part of the total context.
Focused on the active, creative nature of
learning and action.
Key idea: whole is greater than sum of parts.
Associationist
Approaches to
Cognitive Knowledge
Serial learning concerns how people put into
memory and recall information that is
received in a sequential manner.
Serial-position effect occurs when the order
of presentation of information in a list
influences recall of the information in the list.
The S-P effect is the basis for the higher price
paid for book-end adsI.e., ads at the
beginning and end of a commercial TV break.
Serial Position Effect
Many
Trials
to
Learn
Few
early
Position
in series
Late
Law of Contiguity
Stimuli that are experienced together become
associated in memorye.g., Nike-Tiger
Woods. Called paired associate learning.
Some findings:
Make pairs (I.e. stimulus-response words) easily
pronounceable, familiar, meaningful.
Use visual images to link stimulus-response words
together.
Remember: negative associations can occur
between product and another stimulus
attack style political ads seek to create such
associations for opposing candidates.
Semantic Memory
Networks . . .
. . . refer to how people store the
meanings of verbal material in
long-term memory.
Semantic memory is organized into
networks each of which is a series of
memory nodes that represent the
stored semantic concepts.
Information is recalled via spreading
activation.
5 Types of Information Stored in
Nodes
Types of information
Brand names
Brands characteristics/attributes
Ads about brand
Product category
Evaluative (affective) reactions to the brand and
the ad.
This information represents a consumers
brand knowledgeI.e., a brand node and
the associations in memory connected to it.
Measuring Semantic
Memory Networks
Guided Associations
Think of OSU (or your
university/college)
What are the first three words or
images that come to mind. (e.g.,
cowboys, MBA program, sports)
Select one of words (e.g., MBA), now
think of three words or images that you
associate with MBA program, etc.
Semantic Memory
Network:
important for semiosis analysis.
OSU
Cowboys
Walt Garrison
Dallas
Football
Berry Sanders
Drugs Crime
MBA Program
class
Jobs
New job
money
Sports
Academics Bball Golf
Best value
my daughter
Sutton Holder
winning
Schemas . . .
. . . are organized sets of
expectations and associations about
an objects.
When new information is inconsistent
with a schema, consumers engage in
more diligent processing and,
consequently, have improved memory
about the stimulus.
Can derive from network analysis.
Try to influence with communications.
Forgetting
People forget because
even though
information has been
placed in long-term
memory, it may be
extremely difficult to
retrieve. This is called
a retrieval failure.
Interference Processes
Retroactive interference occurs
when later learned material
interferes with the recall of
information learned earlier.
Proactive interference occurs when
earlier learned material interferes
with learning and recall of
information learned later.
Time and Forgetting
The recall of verbal
information
decreases over
time.
Rapid forgetting
that occurs
immediately after
learning has been
shown to occur in
advertising as well.
Affect and Memory
People are better able to recall
information that has the same
affective quality as their mood state.
Affect refers to the feelings, emotions,
and moods that consumers may
experience.
Mood is a transient feeling state that
occurs in a specified situation or time.
Memory and PERMS
Positioning. The semantic network & schema
associated with a brand provides its position.
Environ. Analysis. Usually not relevant, but
can apply in the sense of examining what
competitors are doing and the clutter of the
environment.
Research. Measure semantic network, schema
and expectations, aided/unaided recall.
Marketing mix.
Use promotion to influence semantic network
and schema, consider recall & recognition issues
in advertising. Consider paired associate
learning in developing communications, etc.
Consider von Restorff and Zeigarnik effects in
advertising.
Develop product name with consideration of
paired-associate learning. Consider information
overload issues in product development.
Segmentation. Segment marketplace
based upon knowledge of product category.
