Tuesday, July 24, 2007
implicit and explicit memory activation with online advertisements
A recent study by Chan Yun Yoo in the latest Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly draws distinctions between explicit and implicit memories when viewing online advertisements. Explicit memory is used when recalling specific information, such as a name, while implicit memory is unconscious, not linked to active processing, and can be triggered by an image or phrase. The measure of implicit memory in the study is a word with missing letters, which are filled in by the subject to create a word from the advertisement.
Yoo found that while explicit memory recall increased when ad processing increased, implicit memory recall remained constant. One conclusion of Yoo’s findings is that impressions, typically used to measure print and television advertising effectiveness, may still be a meaningful way to measure certain effects of web advertisements. Also, it bears mentioning that explicit and implicit memories are not mutually exclusive. As Yoo reports, “This does not mean that implicit memory is more important than explicit memory or click-through behaviors. Rather, it suggests that an implicit memory measure would complement the shortcomings of these measures, especially in cases where consumer do not extensively engage in Web ad processing.”
These findings make sense to me. Low clickthrough rates are not necessarily an indication of a failing web advertising economy, any more than a television ad that does not immediately cause a subject to initiate purchase or explicitly recall aspects of the ad is a failure.
Yoo found that while explicit memory recall increased when ad processing increased, implicit memory recall remained constant. One conclusion of Yoo’s findings is that impressions, typically used to measure print and television advertising effectiveness, may still be a meaningful way to measure certain effects of web advertisements. Also, it bears mentioning that explicit and implicit memories are not mutually exclusive. As Yoo reports, “This does not mean that implicit memory is more important than explicit memory or click-through behaviors. Rather, it suggests that an implicit memory measure would complement the shortcomings of these measures, especially in cases where consumer do not extensively engage in Web ad processing.”
These findings make sense to me. Low clickthrough rates are not necessarily an indication of a failing web advertising economy, any more than a television ad that does not immediately cause a subject to initiate purchase or explicitly recall aspects of the ad is a failure.
