Chapter 4

Comprehension, Memory, and

Cognitive Learning
Babin/Harris

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Learning Outcomes
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.

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.

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Components of Consumer
Information Processing

LO1

Exposure
Attention
Comprehension
Elaboration

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

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Comprehension

LO1

Refers to the interpretation or

understanding that a consumer
develops about some attended
stimulus in order to assign meaning.

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

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Comprehension

LO1

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.

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

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Factors Affecting Consumer

Comprehension

LO1

Message characteristics
Receiver characteristics
Environmental characteristics

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-6

Characteristics of the
Message

Physical
characteristics

LO1

Intensity
Color
Font
Numbers

SimplicityComplexity

Message Congruity
Figure and Ground
Message Source

Likeability
Expertise
Trustworthiness
Attractiveness

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

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Message Receiver
Characteristics

LO1

Intelligence/Ability
Involvement
Familiarity/Habituation
Expectations
Physical limits
Brain dominance
2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

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Environmental Characteristics

LO1

Information intensity
Framing
Timing

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

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Multiple Store Theory of

Memory

Views the memory process as utilizing

three different storage areas within the
human brain.

LO2

Sensory memory
Workbench (or short-term) memory
Long-term memory

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-10

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:

LO2

Iconic storage visual information

Echoic storage auditory information

Short duration and perishable.

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-11

Workbench Memory

The storage area where information is stored and

encoded for placement in long-term memory, and
eventually, retrieved for future use.

LO2

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 consumers involvement.

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-12

Mental Processes Help

Consumers Remember Things

Repetition rehearsal.

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.

LO3

Problem: Cognitive interference

Chunk = single memory unit.

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-13

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.

LO3

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.
2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-14

Associative Network

A network of mental pathways linking

knowledge within memory.
Declarative knowledge cognitive
components that represent facts.

LO4

Nodes represent concepts.

Path show association between nodes.

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-15

Cognitive Schemas

LO5

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.
2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-16

Reaction to New
Products/Brands

LO5

When consumers encounter new

products or brands, they react to them
by comparing them to the existing
schema.

2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

4-17

More Terminology

Script a schema representing an event.

Episodic memory memory for past events in
ones life.

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.

LO5

Nostalgia yearning to relive past events.

Personal elaboration person imagines himself

associating with a stimulus being processed.
2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

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