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Disfluent fonts don't help people solve math problems
Andrew Meyer1, Shane Frederick1, Terence C Burnham2
1Marketing Department, Yale University.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|April 7, 2015
Summary
Disfluent fonts, or hard-to-read text, do not improve people's ability to solve complex problems. Replicated studies found no evidence that difficult fonts enhance cognitive performance or analytic reasoning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Experimental Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Previous studies suggested that reduced font clarity, or disfluent font, could enhance cognitive processing by prompting deeper engagement with information.
- A notable experiment indicated that participants solved counterintuitive problems more successfully when presented in difficult-to-read fonts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the replicability of the disfluent font effect on cognitive task performance.
- To determine if font disfluency reliably enhances analytic reasoning or problem-solving accuracy.
Main Methods:
- A meta-analysis was conducted, pooling data from the original experiment demonstrating the disfluent font effect with 16 subsequent replication attempts.
- Potential moderating variables such as cognitive ability, presentation format, and experimental setting were analyzed.
Main Results:
- The pooled analysis revealed no significant effect of disfluent fonts on the rates of solving counterintuitive math problems.
- No evidence of a disfluent font benefit was found across various conditions or when considering moderating variables.
- While disfluent fonts slightly increased response times, they did not demonstrably activate analytic reasoning.
Conclusions:
- The purported benefit of disfluent fonts in enhancing cognitive performance and analytic reasoning is not supported by robust empirical evidence.
- Font disfluency does not appear to be a reliable method for improving deep cognitive processing or problem-solving accuracy.
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