Memory and Cognitive Learning

Session 4
 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
 Inputs

Sensory memory

Short Term Memory

( Working Memory
Available Capacity
Affect Retrieval
Encoding
and
Long Term
arousal
Memory

A Simplified Memory Model

 Multiple-Store Model of Memory
• . Sensory memory happens in the pre-attention stage
where a stimulus is briefly analyzed to determine if it
will receive additional processing
• Short-term memory is where information is
temporarily stored while people are actively
processing it. Is like RAM in a computer.
• Long-term memory is connected to short-term
memory through encoding and retrieval processes. Is
like the disk drive in a computer.
• Memory works like parallel processors
The Memory Process

7/8/18 3-6
 Multiple-Store Model of Memory
• Encoding is the transfer of information from short-term
memory to long-term memory for permanent storage.
• Retrieval is the process of accessing information stored in
long-term memory so that it can be utilized in short-term
memory.
• Retrieval is a constructive process. Information in ads
received after product experience can change the perception
of the experience
 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
The Limited Capacity of Short-Term Memory

• Miller’s Law is the recognition that people can

handle 7 (+/- 2) bits of information at a time.
– In consumer contexts, however, STM is closer
to 5 +/- 2 bits of information.
• Information Overload describes the situation in
which more information is received than can be
processed in short-term memory.
• Well illustrated in XEROX 8200 case. Is a major
issue with engineers who know system
thoroughly and know little about customers.
Involvement & Short-Term Capacity
• High involvement makes the consumer more
aroused expanding the short-term memory
capacity to full and attentive, 7 +/-2 bits.
• Low involvement tends to keep a consumer’s
arousal levels low so the consumer focuses
relatively little memory capacity on the
stimulus. Under low involvement, which is
common in CB contexts, capacity is at 5 +/1
bits
 Marketing Implications
Television advertising
In low involvement keep copy points
maximum to four ( copy point is considered
equivalent to chunk) . Companies that
advertise on TV and radio the lesson is “ keep
your message simple”
Time Required to Transfer Information Is
Influenced by
• the consumer's goal to
either recognize or
recall a task. It requires
2-5 seconds for
recognition task and 5-
10 second for recall task
to transfer the
information to LTM.
 Recognition and Recall
• Recognition tasks are when information is placed
before the consumer. The goal is to determine if the
information has been seen before.
• Recall tasks are when the consumer must retrieve
the information from long-term memory without
any prompting. Requires greater depth of encoding.
• Recall impacts the size of the consideration set,
which is the set of product choices retrieved from
memory that are deemed satisfactory options
 Universe of
potential brands

Awareness Set Unawareness

Known Brands set

Consideration Inert Set Inept Set

Set: Brands given Brand viewed Unacceptable
consideration with Indifference brands
• Clutter is when
there are too
many stimuli
making recall
more difficult
 Long-Term Memory

. . . has essentially unlimited capacity to store

information permanently.
– Stored information is either semantic or visual.
Semantic memory deals with the encoding and
storage of words and meanings. Visual deals
with the storage of images.
– Long term memory is essentially permanent.
Relative Superiority of Picture Versus Word
Memory
– Visual images or pictures tend to be more memorable than their
verbal counterparts, especially when there is low-involvement
on the part of the consumer.
– Words that have high-imagery content are easier to encode and
retrieve than words low in imagery and concreteness.
– Words and pictures should be used to complement each other
in ads.
– Verbal material is better recalled in high involvement conditions.
– In high involvement information processing advertisers usually
get better results if they present different information via verbal
and pictorial means
Memory-Control Processes
• are the methods of
handling information
which may operate
consciously or
unconsciously to
influence the encoding,
placement, and retrieval
of information
 Encoding Process
 Rehearsal influences whether or not information will be
transferred from STM to LTM
 The way information is coded will have great impact on
speed of transfer as well as on the placement of that
information
 For a new topic repetition of stimulus during rehearsal
or attempt to link it to other information already
present in the LTM is required.
 With familiar topic person becomes more adept at
coding information on it by drawing associations
between it and the information they already have in
memory, and storage process speeds up proportionally
 Encoding Process
Marketing Implications:
i. Understanding of encoding process in developing brands
ii. The closer the brand name fits with consumer’s
association about the product class, the better will be
able to recall the name
iii. Highly concrete name ( ocean, orchestra, frog, and
blossom) that are easily visualized and remembered
better than less concrete names (history, truth, moment)
because they are coded both visually and verbally and
also because they fit better into consumer’s existing
knowledge structure,.
Retrieval and Response Generation
• Response generation is when a person
develops a response by actively reconstructing
the stimulus. Information received after
exposure to a stimulus (e.g., ads) can impact
response generation of the original stimulus.

• Retrieval cues create a response by providing

a means of assisting the active reconstruction
of the stimulus.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Product icons – like jolly Green
Giant, who has appeared in ads and on package for more than 30 years
are a significant factor in product recognition
Retrieval and response Generation
Marketing Implications
A major goal of advertiser is to improve consumer’s
ability to retrieve information from memory
i. Provide retrieval cues on the packaging of product
to assist consumer’s memories during decision
making.
ii. Assisting consumers’ retrieval and response
generation to employ music in advertisements.
There is evidence that people retrieve sung
messages better than spoken one
 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 knowledge is the correct
information about a product class that a
consumer has stored in long-term memory
• Subjective knowledge is the consumer’s
perception of what or how much he or she
knows about a product class.
• Knowledge of others is 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.
Obtaining info from firms who are
trying to teach the consumer.
• Learning Through Experience. Actual
contact/use of products
 Consumer Knowledge
Marketing Implications
i. As consumers knowledge increases, consumers become
better organized, grow more efficient and accurate in
their information processing, and display better recall of
information. Managers need to consider the state of
consumer knowledge when they are developing a
product
ii. Information on the extent of consumer knowledge
should influence promotion strategy. A message
targeted to knowledgeable prospect can be much more
complex than addressed to a novice
 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 ads—I.e., ads at the
beginning and end of a commercial TV break.
 Serial Position Effect
Explanation:
Beginning and end of the list become anchors in
learning.
Because of limitation of STM, people pick reference
points for when to start and end the learning process.
Since only limited amounts of information can be
stored in STM at a time, it is those items right around
the beginning and end of the list the reference points
that are recalled most readily.
Many more repetitions of the material may be
required before items in the middle can be recalled
 Serial Position Effect
Marketing Implication
i. Key information in the advertisement should
be placed at the beginning and end of the
message
ii. Advertisers should strive to get their
commercials placed either at the begging or
the end of series of television ads
 Law of Contiguity
• Stimuli that are experienced together become associated
in memory—e.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
– Brand’s characteristics/attributes
– Ads about brand
– Product category
– Evaluative (affective) reactions to the brand and the ad.
• This information represents a consumer’s brand
knowledge—I.e., a brand node and the associations in
memory connected to it.
Measuring Semantic Memory Networks

• Guided Associations
• Think of 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 MBA Program Sports

Walt Garrison Football Jobs Academics B’ball Golf

Dallas Berry Sanders New job Best value Sutton Holder

Drugs Crime class money my daughter winning

An Associative Networks for Perfumes

3-36
 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.
 The von Restorff Effect . . .
– . . . occurs when a highly unique item in a series is
recalled more easily.
– Illustrated by absurdism in advertisements, e.g.,
the Bud frogs.
– Also illustrates information salience, which is the
idea that unique, novel, moving, contrasting,
colorful, etc. stimuli are more easily encoded and
retrieved.
 The Zeigarnik Effect . . .

. . . occurs if a task is
interrupted, material
relevant to the task
tends to be
remembered. E.g., Here, build a story
stories that are cut in About a person doing
the middle--taster’s Something difficult, and
choice. Bud--frogs Then stop just before
Climax. Will increase
and Tasters’ Choice.
Interest in and recall
Of story.
 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.
 Time and Forgetting

• After people learned a list of words, the percentage of words they

could remember decreased dramatically at first, and then leveled off.
The rapid forgetting takes place in advertising as well.
• Zielske had an advertisement for a product run for a group of
housewives once a week for 13 weeks.
• At the end of 13 weeks period 63% of respondents could recall having
seen the ad. The ad was not shown to them for 13 weeks. After 20
weeks, those who could recall had dropped to under 30%, by the 9th
month fewer than 10% of respondent could remember the ad.
• In another experiment one group of housewives was shown the ad 4
weeks apart. In this group the ability to recall the ads increased slowly,
by the end of year 48% of respondents could remember the ad.
 Time and Forgetting

Marketing Implication
If advertiser’s goal is awareness of a product, than high
frequency of ads over short period of time will be most
effective. However consumer will rapidly forget the
commercial message after the burst of advertisements
end
ii. If advertiser’s goal is to build long-term awareness of the
ad, the commercial should be pulsed so that ads are seen
by consumers over long period of time
iii. Some advertisers prefer to combine these approaches by
using high-intensity ad campaign to bring out a product,
and then pulsing regularly after the introduction to
maintain consumer’s awareness of the ad.
 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.
 How can Marketers help consumers to remember

• Reminders
 Involves reminding them of what the
company wants them to remember
 Retrieval cues at the point of purchase
• Saying it again and again: The value of
Repetition
 Self referencing : relating a stimulus to
one’s own self and experience ( This
product is for people just like you who
are--------------)
 How companies can help consumers remember

• Encourage Multiple Representation in Memory

 Information stored in long term memory may be
represented semantically and visual imagery
 Depending on how people typically represent the
to-be-remembered information in memory,
efforts to encourage additional forms of
representation may be worthwhile
• Importance of consistency
 Consistency facilitates remembering. Greater
consistency among elements within an
advertisement increases what consumer
remembers about the ad and advertised product
 The product benefits described within an ad are
better remembered when these benefits are
consistent with those suggested by the advertised
product name
 How Companies can help consumers remember

• Use Easy-to-remember stimuli

 Use of concrete words instead of Abstract
words
 Stimuli that are distinctive or unique are
also easier to remember.
• Put Consumer in Good Mood