Chapter 4

Comprehension, Memory, and Cognitive

Learning

1
 Learning Outcomes
• Identify the factors that influence consumer
comprehension
• Explain how knowledge, meaning, and value
are inseparable using the multiple stores
memory theory
• Understand how the mental associations that
consumers develop are a key to learning

2
 Learning Objectives
• Use the concept of associative networks to
map relevant consumer knowledge
• Apply the cognitive schema concept in
understanding how consumers react to
products, brands, and marketing agents
 Comprehension
• Refers to the interpretation or understanding
that a consumer develops about some
attended stimulus in order to assign meaning
• Internal factors within the consumer
powerfully influence the comprehension
process
• Comprehension includes both cognitive and
affective elements
• Every message sends signals
4
 Factors Affecting Consumer
Comprehension
• Characteristics of the message
• Characteristics of the message receiver
• Characteristics of the environment
(information processing situation)
 Characteristics of the Message
• Physical characteristics
• Simplicity–complexity
• Message congruity
• Figure and ground
• Message source
 Message Receiver Characteristics
• Intelligence/ability
• Prior knowledge
• Involvement
• Familiarity/habituation
• Expectations
• Physical limits
• Brain dominance
 Environmental Characteristics
• Information intensity
• Framing
– Prospect theory
– Priming
• Timing
 Memory
• It is the psychological process by which
knowledge is recorded
 Multiple Store Theory of Memory
• Views the memory process as utilizing three
different storage areas within the human brain
 Mental Processes Assisting Learning
• Repetition
• Dual coding
• Meaningful encoding
• Chunking
 Long-Term Memory
• Long-term memory is a repository for all
information that a person has encountered
– Represents permanent information storage
– Semantic coding - Means the stimuli are
converted to meaning that can be expressed
verbally
– A memory trace is the mental path by which some
thought becomes active
 Long-Term Memory
• Mental tagging helps consumers to retrieve
knowledge
• Rumination refers to unintentional but
recurrent memory of long-ago events that are
not triggered by anything in the environment
– These thoughts frequently include consumption
related activities
 Elaboration
• Refers to the extent to which one continues
processing a message even after he/she
develops an initial understanding in the
comprehension stage
• Personal elaboration - A person imagines
himself or herself associating with a stimulus
being processed
– Provides the deepest comprehension and greatest
chance of accurate recall
 Associative Network
• It is a network of mental pathways linking
knowledge within memory
 Declarative Knowledge
• Refers to cognitive components that represent
facts
• Represented in an associative network when
two nodes are linked by a path
– Nodes - Represent concepts in the network
– Paths - Show the association between nodes in
the network
 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 more associated
with a concept
 Script, Episodic Memory, and Social
Schemata
• Script - A schema representing an event
• Episodic memory - Refers to the memory for
past events, or episodes, in one’s life
• Social schema - Cognitive representation that
gives a specific type of person meaning
– Social stereotype
 4
2

Comprehension,
Memory,
and Cognitive
Learning

Copyright © 2014 Cengage Learning. All

Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in
part.
 Learning Outcomes
Identify the factors that influence consumer comprehension.

Explain how knowledge, meaning, and value are inseparable

using the multiple stores memory theory.

Understand how the mental associations that consumers

develop are a key to learning.

Use the concept of associative networks to map relevant

consumer knowledge.

Apply the cognitive schema concept in understanding how

consumers react to products, brands, and marketing agents.
 Comprehension

The interpretation or understanding that a consumer develops about

some attended stimulus in order to assign meaning
 Comprehension
• Internal factors within the consumer
powerfully influence the comprehension
process
• Comprehension includes both cognitive
and affective elements
• Every message sends signals
 Factors Affecting Consumer Comprehension

• Characteristics of the message

• Characteristics of the message receiver
• Characteristics of the environment
(information processing situation)
 Characteristics of the Message

• Physical characteristics - The elements of

a message that one senses directly
– Intensity
– Color
– Font
– Numbers
– Spacing
– Shape
 Characteristics of the Message

• Simplicity–complexity - The simpler the

message, the more likely a consumer
develops meaningful comprehension
– Relies on a consumer’s ability to process
information
 Characteristics of the Message

• Message congruity - Represents the

extent to which a message is internally
consistent and fits surrounding information
– Not always true that congruent content leads
to improved comprehension
 Characteristics of the Message

• Figure - The focal image, or the object

intended to capture a person’s attention
• Ground - In a message, everything
besides the figure should be less
important and simply represent the ground
 Characteristics of the Message

• Message source - Can influence

comprehension
• Source influences comprehension to
varying degrees based upon:
– Likeability
– Attractiveness
– Expertise
– Trustworthiness
 Message Receiver Characteristics

• Intelligence/Ability
• Prior knowledge
• Involvement
• Familiarity/habituation - The process by
which continuous exposure to a stimulus
affects the comprehension of and
response to some stimulus
 Message Receiver Characteristics

• Expectations - Beliefs of what will happen

in a future situation
• Physical limits
• Brain dominance - The phenomena of
hemispheric lateralization
Message Receiver Characteristics - Example

• A famous television personality has been

brought in to endorse a carbonated soft
drink
– A consumer’s prior knowledge of the product
company and involvement with the message
will help him comprehend the message in the
endorsement accurately
 Environmental Characteristics

• Information intensity - The amount of

information available for a consumer to
process within a given environment
• Framing - A phenomenon in which the
meaning of something is influenced
(perceived differently) by the information
environment
 Environmental Characteristics

– Prospect theory
– Priming
• Timing - Both the amount of time a
consumer has to process a message and
the point in time at which the consumer
receives the message
• Explain how knowledge, meaning, and
value are inseparable using the multiple
stores memory theory.
 Memory

Psychological process by which knowledge is recorded

Multiple Store Theory of Memory

Views the memory process as utilizing three different storage

areas within the human brain
 The Storage Types
• Sensory memory - Area in memory where
we store what we encounter with our five
human senses
• Workbench memory - Storage area in the
memory system where information is
stored and encoded for placement in long-
term memory and, eventually, retrieved for
future use
• Understand how the mental associations
that consumers develop are a key to
learning.
 Mental Processes Assisting Learning

• Repetition - A process in which a thought

is held in short-term memory by mentally
repeating the thought
• Dual coding - A process in which two
different sensory “traces” are available to
remember something
 Mental Processes Assisting Learning

• Meaningful encoding - A process that

occurs when preexisting knowledge is
used to assist in storing new information
• Chunking - A process of grouping stimuli
by meaning so that multiple stimuli can
become a single memory unit
 What mental processes assist learning? -
Example
• Joan remembers her shopping lists by
categorizing the products into food,
household items, and toiletries
– She uses the process of chunking
• Michaela remembers important numbers
by repeating the digits over and over again
– She uses the process of repetition
 Long-Term Memory
• A repository for all information that a
person has encountered
– Represents permanent information storage
– Semantic coding - The stimuli are converted
to meaning that can be expressed verbally
– Memory trace - Mental path by which some
thought becomes active
 Long-Term Memory
• Mental tagging helps consumers to
retrieve knowledge
• Rumination - Unintentional but recurrent
memory of long-ago events that are not
triggered by anything in the environment
– These thoughts frequently include
consumption related activities
 Elaboration
• Extent to which one continues processing a
message even after he/she develops an initial
understanding in the comprehension stage
• Personal elaboration - A person imagines
himself or herself associating with a stimulus
being processed
– Provides the deepest comprehension and greatest
chance of accurate recall
• Use the concept of associative networks to
map relevant consumer knowledge.
 Associative Network

A network of mental pathways linking knowledge within

memory
 Declarative Knowledge
• Refers to cognitive components that
represent facts
• Represented in an associative network
when two nodes are linked by a path
– Nodes - Represent concepts in the network
– Paths - Show the association between nodes
in the network
• Apply the cognitive schema concept in
understanding how consumers react to
products, brands, and marketing agents.
 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 more
associated with a concept
Script, Episodic Memory, and Social Schemata

• Script - A schema representing an event

• Episodic memory - To the memory for past
events, or episodes, in one’s life
• Social schema - Cognitive representation
that gives a specific type of person
meaning
– Social stereotype
 Video
• http://www.cengage.com/marketing/book_content/babin_9781133629689/videos/ch04/index.html