Learn English – Formal alternative for “take on board”

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Two men are having a conversation. A is plying B with numbers and other technical details, but talks so glibly and rapidly that B does not properly "take on board" the information which A is providing.

It can't be said that B doesn't hear the information. Nor is it quite right to say that B doesn't understand the information (because he could understand it if he focused on it). The truth is that B fails mentally to process the information. That failure is well described by the figurative expression that B fails to "take the information on board".

For my purposes, however, I need a more formal/less casual word or phrase than "take on board". Any suggestions?

Best Answer

Perhaps digest the information

Understand or assimilate (new information or the significance of something) by a period of reflection.

Similarly, absorb

Take in and assimilate (information, ideas, or experience): she absorbed the information in silence

And, as noted in the prior definition, assimilate

Take in (information, ideas, or culture) and understand fully: Marie tried to assimilate the week’s events

All from Oxford Dictionaries Online