I Can Hear You, but Can I See You?

Abstract

This study tested the proposition that high-imagery radio advertisements engage visual cognitive resources. Participants in a within-subjects experiment were exposed to 60-second radio advertisements previously coded as either high- or low-imagery ads. During half of the ads, participants were also presented a series of pictures unrelated to the content of the ads. Dual-task interference between the cognitive tasks of listening to the radio advertisements and viewing the unrelated pictures was found in recognition data for high-imagery ads but not low-imagery ads. This pattern of results indicates listening to high-imagery radio ads competes with visual tasks for cognitive resources. Therefore, it appears listening to high-imagery radio advertisements engages visual cognitive resources despite the fact these advertisements are auditory messages. Implications for theories of communication-evoked mental imagery are discussed.