Incidence of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Cognitive Processes in Brand Confusion. Approach From the Categorization Theory

The cognitive processes involved in brand confusion were examined in two experiments, designed within the framework of the assumptions of the exemplar model of categorization. In the first experiment, the impact of the physical similarity of the packages and their exposure time were studied; and in the second one, the impact of similarity and accessibility of the mental representation of the prototypical exemplars. Consistent with the assumptions of the model, the results show that confusion depends both on similarity and exposure time of the packages and on accessibility of the exemplars. Implications to understand consumer confusion are discussed.

Citation:

Benjamín Sierra-Díez, Manuel Froufe-Torres, Carlos Falces-Delgado, and Jenniffer Peralta-Montecinos (2011) ,"Incidence of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Cognitive Processes in Brand Confusion. Approach From the Categorization Theory", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 475-476.