Advertising researchers have a long-standing interest in understanding both the degree and type of cognitive elaboration that occurs when consumers are exposed to persuasive messages. Cognitive information models assume that consumers are rational decision-makers and that advertising provides consumers with information utility by reducing the need to search for other information about a brand. For example, an advertisement in the "Yellow Pages" or an online directory means that the consumer does not have to travel from store to store in search of a product or service. Consumers process this information at a cognitive level before forming an attitude to the brand and purchase intent. A cognition is any thought that surfaces during the elaboration of the information. Cognitive information models are also known as the "central route to persuasion".