Start Date
April 2025
Location
2nd floor - Library
Abstract
Recall of information is a crucial skill that must be utilized in academic and occupational settings. One factor that could affect recall is font. However, prior research on this topic has revealed inconsistent findings with some research suggesting that font type and spacing do have a significant impact on recall (Gasser et al., 2005), whereas other research suggesting that these factors do not impact recall (Beyon et al., 2020). The purpose of this study, therefore, was to further examine the effects of font type (serif vs. sans-serif) and font spacing (monospaced vs. proportional) on the recall of a passage and a word list. A total of 43 participants received one of four conditions, representing the four fonts examined in this study: Courier (serif, monospaced), Monaco (sans-serif, monospaced), Palatino (serif, proportional), or Helvetica (sans-serif, proportional). Participants were instructed to read a passage about a fictional disease before answering questions about the reading. Then, they were instructed to study a list of words for 2 minutes before recalling as many words as possible. A 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial ANOVA revealed that there were no significant main effects of either font type or font spacing on either passage recall or word list recall. Results also yielded that there was no significant interaction between font type and font spacing on either passage recall or word list recall. These findings suggest that neither font type nor spacing significantly affected recall, implying that font may not play a significant role in enhancing recall.
Effects of Font Type and Spacing on Recall
2nd floor - Library
Recall of information is a crucial skill that must be utilized in academic and occupational settings. One factor that could affect recall is font. However, prior research on this topic has revealed inconsistent findings with some research suggesting that font type and spacing do have a significant impact on recall (Gasser et al., 2005), whereas other research suggesting that these factors do not impact recall (Beyon et al., 2020). The purpose of this study, therefore, was to further examine the effects of font type (serif vs. sans-serif) and font spacing (monospaced vs. proportional) on the recall of a passage and a word list. A total of 43 participants received one of four conditions, representing the four fonts examined in this study: Courier (serif, monospaced), Monaco (sans-serif, monospaced), Palatino (serif, proportional), or Helvetica (sans-serif, proportional). Participants were instructed to read a passage about a fictional disease before answering questions about the reading. Then, they were instructed to study a list of words for 2 minutes before recalling as many words as possible. A 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial ANOVA revealed that there were no significant main effects of either font type or font spacing on either passage recall or word list recall. Results also yielded that there was no significant interaction between font type and font spacing on either passage recall or word list recall. These findings suggest that neither font type nor spacing significantly affected recall, implying that font may not play a significant role in enhancing recall.
