The matching effect of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging on product attitude

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the construal congruence of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging and its underlying mechanism on consumers' product attitude.Design/methodology/approachFour experimental studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. Study 1 investigated the framing effect of anthropomorphized brand roles (servant vs partner) in consumers' minds. Study 2 examined the matching effect of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging on product attitude. 132 students were randomly assigned to a 2 (anthropomorphized roles: servant vs partner) × 2 (product messaging: higher-level construal vs lower-level construal) between-subject factorial design. Study 3 tested the mediation effect of processing fluency underlying the construal congruence mechanism. Study 4 replicated the results of study 3 and further examined the boundary conditions by introducing product innovation locus as a moderator. A total of 218 students were randomly assigned to a 2 (anthropomorphized role: servant vs partner) × 2 (product messaging: higher-level construal vs lower-level construal) × 2 (innovation locus: core innovation vs peripheral locus) between-subjects design experiment.FindingsThe results demonstrate that a construal match between product messaging and anthropomorphized brand roles –anthropomorphized “servant” with higher-level construal messaging and anthropomorphized “partner” with lower-level construal messaging – can positively influence consumers' attitude via enhanced processing fluency. Furthermore, this construal matching effect on product attitude is moderated by the innovation locus of the product.Practical implicationsThis study reveals that anthropomorphized brand roles with compatible product messaging in the associated construal levels lead to more favorable product attitudes. Furthermore, the matching effect of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging is stronger for products with peripheral innovation than with core innovation.Originality/valueOur study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides new insights into the construal matching effect of anthropomorphized brand roles and product messaging. Second, it investigates the boundary conditions of the above-mentioned construal fit mechanism.

Sources of magnetic sensory input to identified neurons active during crawling in the marine mollusc Tritonia diomedea

Although the nudibranch mollusc Tritonia diomedea orients to the geomagnetic field, the anatomical site and the mechanism of the geomagnetic transducer are not known. Previous work on semi-intact preparations of Tritonia diomedea in which the brain is intact and nerve connections to the periphery are maintained showed that identifiable pedal ganglion neurons Pd5 fired an increased number of action potentials when the horizontal component of the ambient magnetic field was rotated. This response disappeared when all nerves emerging from the brain were cut, suggesting a peripheral locus for the geomagnetic transducer. In the present work, we recorded intracellularly from Pd5 in preparations in which all peripheral nerves were cut except those containing the axons of neurons Pd5 (pedal nerves 2 and 3). These uncut, mixed, sensory-motor trunks innervate the locomotory epithelium of the foot upon which the animal crawls. In this further-reduced preparation, Pd5 again responded to magnetic field rotations with action potentials. To determine the direction of this action potential transmission in response to magnetic field rotations, we analyzed extracellular recordings from nerves containing the Pd5 axons and found that action potentials elicited in Pd5 by magnetic stimuli originate centrally and are transmitted peripherally. In addition, we have explored the behavioral function of Pd5 neurons by simultaneously recording intracellular electrical activity and crawling rate of the semi-intact animal. A significant correlation was found between crawling rate and Pd5 action potential rate. We also found that action potentials in dorsal swim interneurons depolarized both Pd5 and the established locomotion motoneuron Pd21.

Significance of Catecholamine-Induced Ganglionic Blockade and of Reflex Inhibition of Adrenergic Discharge at a Peripheral Locus as Mechanisms Producing Reflex Vasodilatation

An analysis has been made of the various factors which contribute to the vasodilatation observed in the innervated perfused hindlimb when catecholamines are injected intravenously. Bilateral transection of the lumbar sympathetic chains abolishes all dilatation in some animals and greatly reduces dilatations in all animals. When the sympathetic tone lost by chain transection is restored by preganglionic stimulation, the residual hindlimb dilatation still present after chain section is often increased, and a component of dilatation appears de novo in the hindlimb of many animals. This dilatation was blocked by spinal anesthesia. It is concluded that: (1) the peripheral dilatation produced in the hindlimb of the dog by intravenously administered catecholamines is almost entirely reflex in origin; (2) blockade of ganglionic transmission by intravenously injected adrenergic amines does not contribute significantly to the production of reflex dilatation; (3) the residual dilatation remaining after transection of the sympathetic chains is also reflex in origin because it is blocked by spinal anesthesia; (4) the hindlimb vasodilatation which appears de novo during stimulation of the sympathetic chain is also abolished by spinal anesthesia and is apparently due to inhibition of adrenergic discharge at a peripheral locus; (5) in the pentobarbital anesthetized dog, little, if any, of the hindlimb dilatation resulting from the intravenous injection of epinephrine is due to predominant activation of beta receptors.

Blocking interactions between brain-stem reflex facilitation and sympathetic reflex enhancement

In cats anesthetized with Nembutal the integrity of the lumbar sympathetic chain is necessary for the maintenance of the normal basal height of the patellar reflex. The centrally activated sympathetic component of brain stem enhancement of the patellar reflex is consistently and totally abolished by either surgical or chemical interference with the sympathetic supply to the hind leg. Although the use of sympatholytic drugs does not affect (presumably) synaptic facilitation of reflex activity resulting from brain stem reticular stimulation, mechanical stimulation of either the lumbar sympathetic or splanchnic nerves will cause a temporary but marked depression of this facilitation. Simultaneous stimulation of either the lumbar sympathetic or splanchnic nerves completely and consistently blocks the facilitatory effects of brain stem reticular stimulation. Conversely, simultaneous stimulation of the brain stem reticular formation consistently and totally blocks the enchancement of the patellar reflex which results from stimulation of the peripheral lumbar sympathetic or splanchnic nerves. The former phenomenon does not result from any peripheral locus of interaction between adrenaline and the innervation of the quadriceps muscle. Cross perfusion experiments indicate that the locus of interaction may involve the brain stem reticular formation.