Persuasion Through Repetition
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Repeating words out loud to another person boosts memory. Study shows that this technique is better than when they are lip-synched or covertly produced.
According to Professor Victor Boucher, this technique works better if someone, though not listening, is present to hear it.
We knew that repeating aloud was good for memory, but this is the first study to show that if it is done in a context of communication, the effect is greater in terms of information recall. The production of one or more sensory aspects allows for more efficient recall of the verbal element.
The study involved people who were asked to repeat words in four ways: moving their lips, not moving them, speaking aloud to someone, and then to no one in particular. The study further revealed that repeating an information without moving the lips is the least effective recall technique.
But the added effect of talking to someone shows that in addition to the sensorimotor aspects related to verbal expression, the brain refers to the multisensory information associated with the communication episode and the information the result is better memory.
Professor Boucher and his team also found that it this technique also works well with non-words such as ‘snolp’ or ‘snigrit’.
Repetition may be used as a sales tool as it is one of the easiest and most widespread methods of persuasion. In fact, study shows that people rate statements that have been repeated just once as more valid or true than things they’ve heard for the first time.
Familiarity breeds liking. We tend to be more persuaded by something we think as more true. They even rate statements as truer even when the person saying them has been repeatedly lying.
The illusion of truth effect happens when our brains equate familiarity to truth because familiar things require less effort to process. Cognitive fluency is the feeling of ease which unconsciously signals our brain to think them as the truth.
Read more on:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810015001518
