A Study Of Font Size Effect In Cognitive Conflict Situations

The judgements of learning(JOLs)is an important form of metamemory monitoring and refers to judgements of the recall possibilities for memory tests after the study phase,which can provide an important basis for individual's strategy adjustment in the follow-up learning process.Font size as an important perceptual cue can affect the formation of JOLs.Previous studies focused on how fluency and beliefs affect JOLs.In recent years,the contribution of beliefs about fluency has become a new research hotspot.The purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of beliefs about fluency on JOLs in the field of font size effect.In this study,four experiments were conducted to investigate the contribution of beliefs about fluency on font size effect.Experiments 1 and 2 employed an observation task to capture the contribution of beliefs about "font size affects processing fluency" and "processing fluency affects memory" on JOLs.Experiments 3 and 4 mainly explore the influence of beliefs about "font size affects processing fluency" and "processing fluency affects memory" on JOLs in real experience situations(cognitive conflict situations).The results of experiment 1 showed beliefs about the relationship between font size and processing fluency can impact JOLs: JOLs and global predictions were higher for large font when large font was associated with being easier to process,JOLs and global predictions were higher for small font when small font was associated with being easier to process.The results of experiment 2 showed beliefs about the relationship between processing fluency and memory can impact JOLs: JOLs and global predictions were higher for large font when participants were led to believe processing fluency promotes memory,JOLs and global predictions were higher for small font when participants were led to believe processing fluency hinders memory.The results of experiment 3 and 4 showed beliefs about processing fluency can impact JOLs: the interaction between cognitive conflict and instruction was significant,the simple effect analyses showed that,when participants were told that consistent words were easier to process and processing fluency promotes memory,JOLs for consistent words were significantly higher than those for conflict words,reflecting the cognitive conflict effect on JOLs.By contrast,when participants were told that large words were easier to process and itsprocessing fluency promotes memory,no significant difference in JOLs was found between consistent and conflict words.The interaction between font size and fluency instruction emerged.The simple effect analyses showed that when participants were informed that consistent words were easier to process and its processing fluency promotes memory,no significant difference in JOLs was found between large and small words.But when participants were told that large words were easier to process and processing fluency promotes memory,JOLs for large words were significantly higher than those for small words.The mainly conclusions were as follows:(1)Under the situation of non-real experience,beliefs about processing fluency can impact JOLs.(2)In real experience situations(cognitive conflict situations),beliefs about processing fluency can impact JOLs.(3)Our results provide direct evidence that beliefs about processing fluency contribute to the font-size effect and plays an important role in making JOLs...