Interpretation of Stimuli in Advertisement World
Every second, we are exposed to different kinds of stimuli such as
light, heat, color, sound, texture, odor, etc. The process of grabbing such
stimuli by our sense organs is known as sensation and perception is defined as
the procedure by which human being choose, organize and interpret these
sensations (Solomon, 2015). Our brain clutches the external stimuli through
numbers of channels i.e. sense organs and processes it to generate meaningful
values. The perception process comprises of exposure to stimuli, the attention
of stimulus and interpretation of that.
Interpretation simply means the action of explaining something from the sensed
information and organizing them and turning that into something we can
categorize. We interpret stimuli based on our attention level according to our
learned patterns and expectations. The meanings we use to explain a single and
same event can differ depending on the individual’s past experiences, knowledge,
self-concept, needs, and expectation. We assign meaning to particular stimulus
based on schema i.e. set of belief. For instances, if two people saw the same
beggar in the street, then their perceptions towards that boy can be different.
One can give him money by thinking him as a helpless kid; at the same time, the
other can ignore him due to bitter experiences with the street kid and perceive
him as a thief.
In addition to the schema, our brain interprets things on the basis of
Gestalt psychology as well. According to this principle, people often interpret
things from a whole set of stimuli rather than individual stimulus (Bradley,
2014). From Gestalt perspectives, our brain organizes stimuli based on
following principles:-
1. Closer
principles: - This principle states that human brain tends to fill the blanks
in incomplete information based on the prior knowledge and experiences. For
example, if a person is in continuous exposure of radio jingle of Dish Home,
then, if he listens to only a small part of that jingle, he will instantly
recognize that it belongs to Dish home's advertisement.
2.
Figure-ground principles: - According to this principle, one part of the
stimulus is dominant and distinct while some other part remains in the
background as inferior (Bradley, 2014). The figure-ground principle helps people
to design visual content so that they can grab consumers’ attentions.
In a nutshell, our brain
interprets stimuli on the basis of past experiences, expectation, knowledge,
needs, symbols or logos etc. In addition, the study of Gestalt principles also
helps us to understand how a human brain interprets meaning.
References
Bradley, S. (2014). Design
Principles: Visual perception and the principles of Gestalt. Retrievedfrom https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/03/design-principles-visual- perception-and-the-principles-of-gestalt/
Solomon,
M.R. (2015). Consumer behavior: Buying, having and being. New Jearsey. Pearson
Education, Inc.
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