The memory and persuasion effects of presence in television advertisement processing

Presence is defined as a medium user's feeling of being present in the phenomenal environment created by the mediated information. This concept is considered important as it reflects the rapidly improving realism of mass-mediated communications. The present study was designed to develop a communication model of presence in the setting of television advertisement processing as an attempt to define what interface and viewer variables affect the viewers' likelihood of experiencing presence in the environment created by the advertisement and how presence affects the advertisement's effectiveness in information transmission and persuasion. Presence was measured by a scale of eight items created based on a revised definition of presence or adapted from previous studies. A factor analysis of the data revealed the existence of two separate factors in the scale: "departure" (from the unmediated environment) and "arrival" (in the mediated environment). Results showed that the manipulations of two interface variables (unmediated perception and viewing angles) did not generate significant effects on either "departure" or "arrival." Rather, a few personal characteristics of the viewers were found to explain the variance of "departure" and "arrival." The data revealed that "departure" has a positive effect on the viewers' factual memory and visual recognition memory, whereas "arrival" has no significant effect on the same variables. In contrast, "arrival," but not "departure," was found to have a positive effect on the viewers' confidence in their attitude toward the mediated information, as measured by their confidence in brand preference. One finding that has an important practical implication is that, when both direct and indirect effects are considered, both "departure" and "arrival" have positive effects on persuasion. This indicates that presence, either "departure" or "arrival," may ultimately improve the effectiveness of persuasion. The findings of the present study are integrated into a comprehensive communication model of presence that helps explain why findings of the past studies were not conclusive. Some research questions and methodological considerations are suggested for future studies.