The Effect of Font Size on Children’s Memory and Metamemory

Abstract

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the effect of perceptual features of learning materials on adults’ memory and metamemory. Previous studies consistently have found that adults use font size as a cue when monitoring their learning, judging that they will remember large font size words better than small font size words. Most studies have not demonstrated a significant effect of font size on adults’ memory, but a recent meta-analysis of these studies revealed a subtle memory advantage for large font words. The current study extended this investigation to elementary school children. First and fifth–sixth graders studied words for a free recall test presented in either large or small font and made judgments of learning (JOLs) for each word. As did adults, children predicted they would remember large font size words better than small font size words and, in fact, actually remembered the large font size words better. No differences were observed between the two age groups in the effect of font size on memory or metamemory. These results suggest that the use of font size as a cue when monitoring one’s own learning is robust across the life span and, further, that this cue has at least some validity.

Dyslexia-friendly design features for tangible user interfaces: a systematic literature review

“…Aziz et al (2013) suggested using plain sans serif fonts such as Comic Sans MS for font type to be between 12 and 14 points. However, the font size is slightly smaller for children and can affect reading performance (Wilkins et al, 2009) and memory (Halamish et al, 2018). Nevertheless, the dyslexic readers need a larger font, and avoid using animated text to make reading the words easier for them.…”

Effects of Font Style and Font Color in News Text on User Cognitive Load in Intelligent User Interfaces

“…These findings confirm our hypotheses on how font styles and font colours as well as introduced cognitive load affect user's perceived cognitive load during reading news text. Different from previous studies which focus on the aspects of font size, brightness conditions, text clarity, static or dynamic text display and others that affect the cognitive load or learning effect of users [7] [8], this study investigated font styles and font colours that are more meaningful for news reading tasks. Such information is also easy to control in the user interface of news text, and therefore can be easily applied in practice.…”

“…For example, studies have found that the font size affects people's ability to remember learning materials. Compared with materials written in small fonts, people are more likely to remember materials written in large fonts [7]. Chen et al [8] studied the impact of different brightness conditions on users' cognitive load and their method of measuring cognitive load based on pupil changes.…”

“…In the user interface of news media, the text font and text colour are the main display elements. Previous research work has studied different aspects regarding the display elements such as font size [7], brightness conditions [8], text clarity, static or dynamic text display [9], [10], [11] and other aspects that affect the cognitive load or learning effect of users. However, it is not clear how font style and font colour affect user's perceived cognitive load.…”

The Result of Validation Testing and Students Response to Geoscience Students Worksheets to Improve Student Scientific Work and Conceptual Mastery

“…Aspect cover design is still low in learning media expert score due to the size and the type of the font that being used in the cover of Geoscience Students Worksheets. In the Geoscience Students Worksheets there are some parts where the written font is too small or use too complicated font style, whereas people tend to remember the bigger size of the font (Halamish et al, 2018) and easy to read font (Nakahata et al, 2016;Dressler, 2019).…”