Individual differences in the desirable difficulty effect during lexical acquisition.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Applied Linguistics

Background:

• Difficult or novel fonts can slow reading but enhance learning and memory.
• This aligns with the desirable difficulty principle, where increased cognitive effort improves long-term retention.
• The application of desirable difficulty to lexical acquisition (word learning) remained unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the novel font Sans Forgetica, designed for desirable difficulty, enhances lexical acquisition.
• To determine if readers learn low-frequency words better when presented in this specialized font.

Main Methods:

• 160 participants were randomly assigned to read sentences with low-frequency words in either a standard or Sans Forgetica font.
• Eye movements were monitored during reading.
• Participants completed assessments of spelling, orthographic, and semantic word acquisition.

Main Results:

• High-skill spellers demonstrated improved spelling and semantic learning of new words when presented in the desirable difficulty font.
• Low-skill spellers did not exhibit the same learning benefits from the Sans Forgetica font.
• Individual differences in spelling ability moderated the effect of desirable difficulty on lexical acquisition.

Conclusions:

• The desirable difficulty effect in lexical acquisition is dependent on individual reader characteristics, specifically spelling skill.
• A font designed to induce desirable difficulty can benefit some learners but may pose a challenge for others.
• Future research should consider individual differences when exploring the efficacy of desirable difficulty interventions in education.