MULTIPLE STORE MODEL OF MEMORY
This is a "black box" model which concentrates on external inputs and the consumer behavior outputs that seem to ensue from them.

• Sensory
  • preattention stage
  • brief analysis to determine if additional processing capacity should be devoted to stimulus

• Short-Term
  • where information is actively processed

• Long-Term
  • where information is stored after encoding for later retrieval

encoding:
the process of transferring information from short- to long-term memory for permanent storage

retrieval:
the process of accessing information stored in long-term memory so that it can be utilized in short-term memory

MULTIPLE STORE MODEL OF MEMORY

• Sensory Register(s)
  • the immediate impression caused by the firing of the sensory nerve cells
  • preattentive: determines if additional capacity should be allocated to processing stimulus information

• Short-Term Memory (STM)
  
  • a.k.a. working memory
  • where information is temporarily stored while being processed
  • rehearsal can be used to refresh STM, as when silently repeating a phone number prior to dialing

• Long-Term Memory (LTM)
  
  • essentially unlimited in capacity
  • can store information permanently

MULTIPLE STORE MODEL OF MEMORY

• Sensory Register(s)
  
  • briefly hold (fractions of seconds) information inputs
  • very limited in capacity

• Short-Term Memory (STM)
  
  • a.k.a. working memory
  • can hold information for tens of seconds
  • used for integrating inputs and LTM in"thinking"
  • limited in capacity

• Long-Term Memory (LTM)
  
  • holds information for long periods of time (years)
  • "unlimited" capacity

MILLER'S LAW:
Expanding the Limits of STM

Recall:
STM seems to be capacity limited at around seven bits of information, plus or minus two

Chunking:
the mental process of grouping together several pieces of information and treating them as a single set

A chunk uses about the same amount of capacity as a bit.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD:
when more information is received than can be processed in short-term memory

INVOLVEMENT AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY CAPACITY

Higher involvement
. . . . . ====> higher arousal
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ====>higher capacity

Lower levels of involvement suggest lower capacity for information processing.

What are the implications for advertising?

LONG TERM MEMORY

Testing LTM:

recognition task
person is asked to judge if information that is presented has been seen previously

recall task
person must retrieve the information from long-term memory

Consideration Set (evoked set)
the set of alternative brands that a consumer regards as acceptable for further consideration; ones which are recalled (enter STM)

LONG-TERM MEMORY

Two basic types of interest to consumer researchers:

Episodic
refers to memories associated with events or episodes in our experiences

• -e.g., your first date

Semantic
refers to facts and other information that we store through language; verbal material

• -e.g., how to do addition

(Note: Mowen also distinguishes between semantic and visual memory. The notion of an associative network suggests that we do not simply store most information in a language format: the storage is in a holistic form much like a laser hologram. Mowen notes that pictorial information is recognized and recalled more readily than verbal information.)

LONG-TERM MEMORY

Schema:
a cognitive structure that represents a person's knowledge about a given object or behavior

an organized set of expectations held by a person about an object

Script:
an organized sequence of behavioral events

Information salience:
refers to the level of activation of a stimulus in memory

NETWORK ORGANIZATION OF LTM

Node
an LTM center that represents a word, idea, or concept

Linkage
the means of association between two nodes

Activation
an energy flow into particular nodes to bring them into STM

Retrieval
the process of locating the proper nodes in LTM and bringing them into STM

Encoding
the process of categorizing a stimulus and choosing a storage location for it in LTM

ATTENTION
the momentary focusing of our information processing capacity on a particular stimulus

One school of thought is that attention lies on a continuum, anchored by processes that are:

• controlled
  • effortful
  • consume much capacity

• automatic
  • "effortless"; "mindless"
  • consume little capacity
  • occur without conscious control
  • a.k.a. preconscious attention

STRENGTH OF LEARNING

• Importance (effort)
• Reinforcement (consequences)
• Repetition (refresh)
• Imagery (multiple memories)

COGNITIVE PROCESSING TERMS

• Activation
  Stored cognitive representations are made available for retrieval from memory for processing.

• Spreading Activation
  Activation of one representation will spread to and activate other representations with which it is associated.

• Capacity Limits
  The cognitive processing system has a finite limit in the amount of information that can be processed at one time.

• Automatism
  As cognitive processes are practiced (i.e., the limited capacity system is used), they eventually require less conscious control and less capacity.

FORGETTING

• retroactive interference
  after old material has been learned, new material interferes with the retrieval of old material from memory

• proactive interference
  material learned prior to the new material interferes with the learning of the new material

• advertising pulsing
  forgetting occurs rapidly at first, and then levels off: why do advertisers often use a pulsing strategy?