Encoding and Media Effects on Consumer Learning Deficiencies in the Elderly

Despite the substantial amount of research on consumer information processing and the growth of the elderly segment of the consumer market, knowledge of elderly consumers' information processing tendencies is limited. In their useful review of information processing by the elderly, Phillips and Stemthal (1977) note the lack of focused research on the elderly in a consumer information context. They further point out that of the studies pertaining to the elderly very few include other age groups for comparison. The situation has changed little in the time since their review. Additional efforts to understand the elderly consumer have been primarily in the form of more literature reviews (e.g., Meadow, Cosmas, and Plotkin 1981; Ross 1982) or position statements specifying areas in which applied research on the elderly would be particularly relevant (e.g., Visvabharathy 1982).