The Mind of the Buyer

THE I N F LU E N CE O F RE P E T I T I O N (^47)
Th e ma tte r may b e explaine d by i magining
a ca se wh ere w e are a nnouncin g a new a rticl e
i n a month ly m a ga zine. Le t u s a ssum e th a t
we h ave de ci ded up on eigh t in se rtion s fo r th e
yea r. How sh all w e m os t effec tively di s
trib ut e th em? A n umb e r o f al tern ative s a re
p ossibl e ; eigh t consecu tive i nsertion s i n th e
firs t eigh t, l a st eigh t, o r any eigh t s ucc essive
i ssues ; fo ur i n th e firs t f ou r i ssue s of th e
ye a r, fo ur i n th e l a st four, a n d so on. Th o ugh
we c anno t say fo r c ertai n w ha t i s th e b es t
dis trib ution fo r eve ry Sp ecific articl e, still we
may make som e p rofitabl e guess by conside ra
tion of c e rtain fact s p roven by l ab o ra t ory
dem onstration
Afte r much investiga tion of m em ory, psy
chol o gists h ave disc overe d th at fac t s onc e im
p resse d up on th e min d t end to slip a way a t
a n uneve n rat e— rapidly a t fi rst, th en m ore
a n d m o re slowly until th e am oun t retaine d
rea ch e s a c on st an t l evel a n d s tays th ere. Th e
mat te r i s graphically rep resen te d by a c u rve
o f fo rget tin g, simila r to t h a t of Figure (^6) ,
where th e grea te r p ar t o f th e m at erial i s fo r
go tte n almos t imm edia tely a nd a sm alle r p a rt
rem ain s rel a tively cons ta nt ( a s sh own by t h e
lin e A B ).