Effects of Presentation Order and Communication Modality on Recall and Attitude

Previous consumer research has attributed differences in persuasion between communication modes (e.g., audio vs. print) to differences in the audience's control over the pace of argument presentation. It is argued in this article that communication modes also differ in the extent to which argument order is an important determinant of persuasion. The results of two studies show that, while order of argument presentation affects persuasion with audio messages, order is unimportant with print messages. These differences appear to be due to a first-in-first-out retrieval strategy employed in response to audio presentations but not in response to visual presentations. Implications of the research for understanding how consumers process messages and how to develop effective communications are discussed. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.