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cognition
You are more creative when the font is harder to read.
Cognitive disfluency—the experience of difficulty in processing information—can trigger more deliberate, analytic thinking.
Studies show that when people encounter information in a difficult-to-read font, they slow down their cognitive processing. This effortful state reduces reliance on intuitive gut reactions and forces a deeper engagement with the material at hand.
Efficiency feels good, but ease is often the enemy of careful thought.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Alter et al., 2007, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
- What the check found
- The cited study exists and is widely discussed in psychology, but empirical support in the field has shown that the effect is not always robust or replicable across different experimental conditions.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.