Disfluent Fonts Don't Help People Solve Math Problems

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2015

Publication Title

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000049

ISSN

1939-2222

Abstract

Prior research suggests that reducing font clarity can cause people to consider printed information more carefully. The most famous demonstration showed that participants were more likely to solve counterintuitive math problems when they were printed in hard-to-read font. However, after pooling data from that experiment with 16 attempts to replicate it, we find no effect on solution rates. We examine potential moderating variables, including cognitive ability, presentation format, and experimental setting, but we find no evidence of a disfluent font benefit under any conditions. More generally, though disfluent fonts slightly increase response times, we find little evidence that they activate analytic reasoning.

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