The experimenters recruited 40 Princeton students to take…
““The experimenters recruited 40 Princeton students to take the CRT. Half of them saw the puzzles in a small font in washed-out gray print. The puzzles were legible, but the font induced cognitive strain. The results tell a clear story: 90% of the students who saw the CRT in normal font made at least one mistake in the test, but the proportion dropped to 35% when the font was barely legible. You read this correctly: performance was better with the bad font. Cognitive strain, whatever its source, mobilizes System 2, which is more likely to reject the intuitive answer suggested by System 1.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
A difficult-to-read font forces people to engage deeper thinking, reducing reliance on quick intuitive answers and improving accuracy.
In simple terms: Hard-to-read text makes you think more carefully, leading to fewer mistakes.
Key Takeaway
Use visual difficulty to trigger analytical thinking.
Themes
cognition
decision making
bias
attention
system 2
Mood
analytical
thoughtful
Type
educational
psychological
When to use this quote
- exams
- software UI design
- marketing copy
- educational materials
Key Concepts
cognitive load
dual‑process theory
system 1
system 2
Questions to Reflect On
- How does visual difficulty affect different types of tasks?
- When is it better to simplify presentation?
A Different Perspective
If the task is already complex, added strain may cause overload and lower performance.