Delayed recall of copytest responses: The temporal stability of listed thoughts

Data from a large-scale advertising copytesting study were analyzed to assess the overall level of recall of listed thoughts at a delay, and to determine the types of listed thoughts that were particularly retrievable. Female heads-of-household viewed a series of television commercials and listed thoughts about each. One week later, the respondents, who were recontacted by telephone, were able to recall the content of half of their listed thoughts. More importantly, comparisons of the recall rates for listed-thought categories supported theory-based predictions about the responses that should be particularly retrievable. Thoughts that contained evaluative content were significantly more likely to be recalled than neutral thoughts, and unfavorable thoughts were slightly more likely to be recalled than favorable thoughts. Also, thoughts about the self were more likely to be recalled than thoughts that did not contain self-relevant content. This greater retrievability of self-relevant thoughts was true for commercials with standard executional styles. However, for ads with a highly unusual presentation or spokesperson, thoughts about the ad execution appeared to be the most retrievable.