| The Font-size effect refers to the fact that people predict their memory of words in a large font is better than that of words in a small font,but actual memory performance shows no difference.This effect reflects the dissociation between metamemory and memory.On the one hand,previous research in this field focused on the influence of font size on judgments of learning(JOLs),and proposed beliefs theory and processing fluency theory to explain such effect.However,there are disputes between these two theories,and neither of them can explain the new finding that font size has no effect on judgments of learning in pure-list designs.In addition,until now,it is still unknown how font size leads to the difference in judgments of learning between different materials.On the other hand,the influence of font size on memory had not been taken seriously,and there wer e some differences in the results of memory,which might be resulted from the paradigm adapted in previous research that could not effectively measure the effect of perceptual cue on memory.Thus,it is also unknown whether the influence of font size on memory can be observed when the validity of measurement paradigm is improved.Therefore,the existing research has not comprehensively considered the influence of font size on judgments of learning and memory to explain the font-size effect.Based on this,the current study attempted to explore three questions:(1)how did font size influence JOLs?(2)did font size have impact on JOLs?(3)how did the metacognitive illusion of font size come into being? This study hypothesized that:(1)the influence of font size on JOLs was based on the availability of perceptual contrast.When participants experienced perceptual contrast between large and small fonts,the mutual influence of large font and small font resulted in the difference in JOLs between them.(2)The effect of font size on memory depended on the encoding-retrieval matching of font size.When the font size matching cue could be used,the effect of font size on memory could be observed.(3)The effects of font size on JOLs and memory depended on different perceptual cue,but one list composition(mixed list vs.pure list designs)only enabled one perceptual cue to be used.Two studies were conducted to test these three hypotheses.The first study,including two experiments,explored the mechanism and specific process of the influence of font size on JOLs by comparing data under contrast conditions and data under no-contrast conditions.Experiment 1 explored the influence and mechanism of indirect perceptual contrast with low contrast frequency of font size on judgments of learning;Experiment 2arranged a pair of words with different font sizes up and down to form direct perceptual contrast to explore the influence and mechanism of direct perceptual contrast of font sizes on JOLs.The second study,including three experiments,paid more attention to the font-size effect on memory,and tried to comprehensively consider the processes of metamemory and memory to explain the font-size effect.Experiment 3 explored the influence of font size on JOLs and memory in mixed list designs;Experiment 4 explored the influence of font size on JOLs and memory in pure-list designs;Experiment 5explored the influence of imagery size on JOLs and memory in pure-list designs to further verify the results of Experiment 4.The results of this study are as follows:(1)the font-size effect on JOLs was observed under contrast conditions.There was no significant difference in JOLs for the larger words between the contrast condition and no-contrast conditions(Expt.1 & Expt.2).These results revealed that perceptual contrast was the key factor for the influence of font size on JOLs;and under perceptual contrast conditions,participants reduced their JOLs of small words,while JOLs of large words were not affected by perceptual contrast,which led to the font size effect.(2)The direct perceptual contrast could lead to the font-size effect on JOLs,showing that when the encoding state of perceptual remained unchanged,the comparison of direct perceptual features could affect individual’s metamemory judgments(Expt.2).(3)The font-size effect of JOLs only existed in mixed list designs(Expt.3),while the effect of font size / image size on memory only existed in pure-list designs(Expt.4 and Expt.5).These results verify our hypothesis that JOLs and memory depend on different perceptual cues,and the pure-list and mixed-list designs cannot make both cues use at the same time,which leads to the occurrence of metamemory illusion.This study further revealed the mechanism and process of the influence of font size on metamemorial monitoring.At the same time,a comprehensive explanation of metacognitive illusion of font size was given by considering the process of metamemory and memory.It not only improves the existing theory,but also provides a new perspective to better understand the influence of perceptual cues on metamemory monitoring and memory. |
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