Chang Minyu, Brainerd Charles J
Department of Psychology and Human Neuroscience Institute, Cornell University, G331 MVR Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA.
Metacogn Learn. 2022;17(2):443-476. doi: 10.1007/s11409-021-09287-3. Epub 2022 Feb 28.
The font size effect is a metamemory illusion in which larger-font items produce higher judgments of learning (JOLs) but not better memory, relative to smaller-font items. We conducted meta-analyses to determine what is currently known about how font size affects JOLs and memory accuracy. In addition, we implemented both univariate and multivariate meta-regressions to isolate the moderators of JOL effects and memory effects. The results revealed a small-to-moderate effect of font size on JOLs. There was also a small but significant effect of font size on memory. This suggests that JOLs and memory accuracy both increase with font size, rather than being completely dissociated. Moreover, JOL-memory dissociation only occurred when font size ranged between very small and intermediate. Our working explanation is that the memory effects of font size are tied to (dis)fluency, but its JOL effects are not. Some boundary conditions were identified for font size effects on both JOLs and memory. Specifically, larger font sizes only reliably increased both JOLs and memory accuracy (a) when font sizes ranged from intermediate to very large, (b) when study materials were unrelated word lists, (c) when JOLs were solicited immediately after encoding, and (d) when study time was relatively brief.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11409-021-09287-3.
字体大小效应是一种元记忆错觉，即相对于较小字体的项目，较大字体的项目会产生更高的学习判断（JOLs），但记忆效果却并不更好。我们进行了元分析，以确定目前关于字体大小如何影响JOLs和记忆准确性的已知情况。此外，我们实施了单变量和多变量元回归，以分离JOL效应和记忆效应的调节因素。结果显示，字体大小对JOLs有小到中等程度的影响。字体大小对记忆也有小但显著的影响。这表明JOLs和记忆准确性都随字体大小而增加，而不是完全分离。此外，JOL-记忆分离仅在字体大小介于非常小和中等之间时发生。我们的初步解释是，字体大小的记忆效应与（不）流畅性相关，但它对JOLs的影响并非如此。我们确定了一些字体大小对JOLs和记忆的影响的边界条件。具体而言，只有在以下情况下，较大的字体大小才会可靠地提高JOLs和记忆准确性：（a）当字体大小从中等变为非常大时；（b）当学习材料是不相关的单词列表时；（c）当编码后立即征求JOLs时；以及（d）当学习时间相对较短时。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s11409-021-09287-3获取的补充材料。
