学术讲座主题：
Episodic versus Semantic Recall in Consumer Experiential Learning
讲座时间：
2012年10月25日下午14：30-17：30
讲座地点：
善思堂M102
主讲人：
Jiang Zhiying
NUS Business School
National University of Singapore
Abstract:
When making a brand choice, the consumer needs to form an evaluation for each brand under consideration. An interesting question to ask is what has been recalled in their mind to form an attitude toward a brand. Is it a previously formed overall impression or is it a vivid visualization of certain consumption episodes? A large literature in cognitive research has established the existence of both semantic and episodic memory in human brain, where semantic memory stores general knowledge (such as brand evaluation) and episodic memory stores personally experienced events that are context specific (such as consumption experiences). In the traditional learning model, a consumer is assumed to make brand choice only based on the overall quality evaluation from semantic memory. Hence, in this paper we propose a structural model with Bayesian learning that allows recall from either semantic or episodic memory. We believe such model is important, as it fills the gap between behavioral theory as well as empirical work. We also attempt to empirically test the effect of idiosyncratic traits as well as situational factors (based on finding in both experimental and MRI-based studies) on triggering the type of memory being recalled. The consumer depicted in this paper is assumed to have imperfect memory, i.e. consumer forgets. In fact, it is the explicit modeling of these forgetting errors that allows us to econometrically identify and distinguish between the two memory systems. We calibrate the proposed model on scanner panel data in laundry detergent category. It is found that consumers are more likely to recall past consumption experiences to form a new evaluation at the point of purchase, rather than recalling an existing belief from semantic memory.
