If it is hard to read; it is hard to do. How different fonts affect motivation and
prediction
Abstract
Hypothesis: The participants who had the harder to read font will guess the
preparation time will be longer than those who had an easy-to-read font and willingness to
cook the recipe will be lower in those who had the harder-to-read condition. Processing
fluency was demonstrated in an experiment in which participants were given one of two
recipes for a meal. One recipe was harder to read than the other as it was printed in a different
font style. The actual content of the recipe was kept the same however and the size of the font
was indifferent. Participants were then asked to read the recipe and answer several questions
afterwards about what they had just read. It is argued that participants given the easier to read
fonts will be able to recall facts in a given text much more accurately based on processing
fluency. This would be shown in the answers given to the questions after the case study or
recipe has been recited. The issue is raised that some participants may naturally have better
memory skills than others or the font style may not affect them in the intended manner.
Introduction
The ease in which someone can cognitively process information can be significantly
impacted by the very text and ease of reading when reciting it. This experiment demonstrated
that a change in font style can expressively temper with the efficiency the participants can
process information of a recipe. Participants with the easier to read font are more likely to
remember and recall information and extracts from the text when compared to those
, participants who were given the hard to read print. Participants with the hard to read font are
also more likely to give a longer estimated time of preparation for the recipe as well.
Song and Schwarz (2008) also showed a similar result with their study “If It's Hard to
Read, It's Hard to Do: Processing Fluency Affects Effort Prediction and Motivation.” Three
studies were conducted in this experiment. The first being a study where participants (12
females, 8 males; average age 5 20.9 years old) were given a set of identical instructions.
However, the font style differed for each group. An Arial font was used for the easy-to-read
print, and the Brush font was used for the harder-to-read condition. The instructions were an
exercise routine and participants had to estimate how long it would take to complete. As
expected participants with the easier-to-read condition estimated a lower time for the exercise
to complete but both conditions had equal levels of memory when it came to recall specific
information about the text given.
Study two consisted of a similar experimental procedure. It comprised of a recipe for
a meal where twenty-seven students (22 females, 5 males; average age 18.74 years) had two
separate recipes, one of which was printed in an easy-to-read-font and one in a harder-to-read
font. The aim, again, to see if the text in a more difficult font style to read would affect the
outcome of answers when compared to that of the easy-to-read condition. An estimated time
to prepare the meal was asked to both groups. The study concluded that the easy-to-read font
condition group gave a lower time of preparation than those who had a harder-to-read font
style. Furthermore, they gave a higher willingness to prepare the recipe themselves when the
font was easy to read.
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