| Chapter 2: | Literature Review |
Effects of Frequency
Impact of Frequency in Advertising
The belief that frequency of exposure increases the memory of the message can be explained in terms of accessibility of information. Accessibility can be defined as the potential that knowledge stored in memory will be retrieved for later use (Higgins, 1996). Althaus and Kim (2001) argue that accessibility effects can occur “when a stimulus activates a knowledge construct which temporarily increases the accessibility of that particular knowledge construct in memory” (p. 3). One factor that influences the accessibility of the knowledge construct is the frequency of activation (Shrum & O'Guinn, 1993; Althaus & Kim, 2001). Frequency of activation increases the likelihood that the activated construct will be used in the future processing of stimulus. According to the construct accessibility explanation then, repeated exposure to the same ad can result in an increase in accessibility of the information relevant to that particular ad and the likelihood that the stored information will be activated more easily.
Past research has demonstrated that the frequent activation of a construct in memory can facilitate accessibility of that construct through the priming process. Higgins and King (1981) suggest that primes can stimulate the knowledge construct unconsciously. They also suggest that the frequency with which a construct has been activated in the past can be a determinant of accessibility in the future. Thus, it can be argued that frequent activation of a stimulus activates an accessible knowledge construct in memory which in turn primes individuals’ encoding of subsequent processing of the same stimulus.