1. Chapter 4 Comprehension, Memory, and Cognitive Learning
Babin/Harris
© 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

2. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.
Learning Outcomes
Understand the concept of comprehension and the factors that influence what gets comprehended.
Use the multiple store theory of memory to explain how knowledge, meaning, and value are inseparable.
Understand how consumers make associations with meaning as a key way to learn.
Use the concept of associative networks to map relevant consumer knowledge.
Be able to apply the concept of a cognitive schema, including exemplars and prototypes, to understand how consumers react to new products.
© 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

3. Components of Consumer Information Processing
Exposure
Attention
Comprehension
Elaboration
LO1
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4. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.
Comprehension
Refers to the interpretation or understanding that a consumer develops about some attended stimulus in order to assign meaning.
LO1
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5. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.
Comprehension
Process is largely influenced by other internal factors within the consumer.
Includes both cognitive (thought) and affective (feeling) elements.
Consumer comprehension is not always “correct.”
LO1
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6. Factors Affecting Consumer Comprehension
Message characteristics
Receiver characteristics
Environmental characteristics
LO1
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7. Characteristics of the Message
Physical characteristics
Intensity
Color
Font
Numbers
Simplicity-Complexity
Message Congruity
Figure and Ground
Message Source
Likeability
Expertise
Trustworthiness
Attractiveness
LO1
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8. Message Receiver Characteristics
Intelligence/Ability
Involvement
Familiarity/Habituation
Expectations
Physical limits
Brain dominance
LO1
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9. Environmental Characteristics
Information intensity
Framing
Timing
LO1
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10. Multiple Store Theory of Memory
Views the memory process as utilizing three different storage areas within the human brain.
Sensory memory
Workbench (or “short-term”) memory
Long-term memory
LO2
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11. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.
Sensory Memory
The area in memory where the things that we encounter with any of the five human senses are stored.
Preattentive – consumer has not yet allocated attention to sensations.
Unlimited capacity.
Storage methods:
Iconic storage – visual information
Echoic storage – auditory information
Short duration and perishable.
LO2
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12. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.
Workbench Memory
The storage area where information is stored and encoded for placement in long-term memory, and eventually, retrieved for future use.
Encoding – process by which information is transferred from workbench memory to long-term memory for permanent storage.
Retrieval – process by which information is transferred back into workbench memory.
Limited capacity and duration.
Capacity depends on consumer’s involvement.
LO2
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13. Mental Processes Help Consumers “Remember” Things
Repetition – rehearsal.
Problem: Cognitive interference
Dual coding – two different sensory “traces” are available to remember something.
Meaningful encoding – pre-existing knowledge is used to assist in storing new information.
Chunking – grouping stimuli by meaning so that multiple stimuli can become a single memory unit.
Chunk = single memory unit.
LO3
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14. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.
Long-Term Memory
A repository for all information that a person has encountered.
Unlimited capacity and duration.
Semantic encoding – stimuli are converted to meaning which can be expressed verbally.
Memory trace – the mental path by which some thought becomes active.
Spreading activation – cognitive activation spreads from one concept to another.
Tag – a small piece of coded information that helps that particular piece of knowledge get retrieved.
LO3
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15. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.
Associative Network
A network of mental pathways linking knowledge within memory.
Declarative knowledge – cognitive components that represent facts.
Nodes – represent concepts.
Path – show association between nodes.
LO4
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Cognitive Schemas
Schema – a type of associative network that works as a cognitive representation of a phenomenon that provides meaning to that entity.
Exemplar – a concept within a schema that is the single best representative of some category.
Prototype – characteristics most associated with a concept.
LO5
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17. Reaction to New Products/Brands
When consumers encounter new products or brands, they react to them by comparing them to the existing schema.
LO5
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More Terminology
Script – a schema representing an event.
Episodic memory – memory for past events in one’s life.
Nostalgia – yearning to relive past events.
Social schemata – the cognitive representation that gives a specific type of person meaning.
Also known as social stereotype.
Elaboration – the extent to which one continues processing a message even after an initial understanding is achieved in the comprehension stage.
Personal elaboration – person imagines himself associating with a stimulus being processed.
LO5
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