Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Physical perceptual fluency <s> People are more likely to engage in a given behavior the less effort it requires. As numerous studies have indicated, high perceived effort is a major impediment to behavior change, from adopting an exercise routine (e.g., DuCharme & Brawley, 1995) to changing one's diet (e.g., Sparks, Guthrie, & Shepherd, 1997). Although previous research has shown that task type (e.g., Buehler, Griffin, & Ross, 1994) and previous experience (e.g., Thomas, Handley, & Newstand, 2007) influence the accuracy of effort predictions, little is known about how people estimate the effort involved in a novel behavior. One possibility is that people run a mental simulation of the behavior and infer effort from the <s> BIB001 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Physical perceptual fluency <s> Experiencing difficulties during information processing can either be used as signal for the increased need of cognitive effort (“try harder”), or as avoidance signal for future action selection (“avoid and switch”). These alternative ideas are currently reflected in two seemingly opposing theories of anterior cingulate cortex function, namely the conflict monitoring versus the outcome evaluation account. Botvinick (2007) recently suggested that both positions might converge on the detection of aversive signals. Here, we will show that low perceptual fluency, which is known to evoke negative affective reactions, triggers the mobilization of cognitive effort even in the absence of response conflicts. More precisely, in three experiments effort adjustments in reaction to fluency manipulations as indicated by significant interactions of Fluency N × FluencyN−1 were found. It follows that an aversive signal (here: low fluency) is not only used for effort prediction but also for effort adjustments. <s> BIB002 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Physical perceptual fluency <s> Processing fluency is known to affect a variety of cognitive assessments, but most research has not examined such effects in the context of a real-life experience. In the first experiment, college students, enrolled in either a statistics or cognitive psychology course, read a course syllabus which varied in the clarity of its font and frequency of its vocabulary. Based on the syllabus, students then forecasted their final course grade and the course's difficulty. Despite methodological similarity to other fluency experiments and adequate statistical power, there were no significant differences in forecasts across fluency conditions. Fluency may be discounted in a task which provides information that affects people's lives. This interpretation was bolstered by a second experiment whose participants were students in a statistics course. These students read the cognitive course's syllabus and forecasted better grades and less difficulty in the cognitive course when the font of the syllabus was more clear th... <s> BIB003 </s> Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review <s> Physical perceptual fluency <s> Abstract Research from the sensory science literature reveals that product information has an influence on the hedonic taste rating. Studies from social cognitive research have shown that processing fluency influences decision-making and evaluation processes. The present field study (N = 123) applied a 2 × 2-between-subject design to explore whether the processing fluency of the label information (low versus high) or the consumption domain (everyday versus special-occasion) have an effect on the subsequent hedonic taste rating of a wine. Fluency was manipulated via an easy- or difficult-to-read font. Results showed that there was no effect of the consumption domain. However, the wine was liked more in the high-fluency condition compared to the low-fluency condition. Thus, the results indicate that a wine tastes better if the labeled visual information can be processed relatively fluently. This research therefore adds to the literature on processing fluency because it suggests that fluency transfers across modalities. To give reliable recommendations to marketing specialists and label designers, further research is required to confirm the observed findings. <s> BIB004
The subjective ease with which stimuli are physically perceived (e.g., a clear or unclear font and the contrast between lettering and the background) is termed physical perceptual fluency  . Font manipulation is a common method that has been used to investigate the fluency effect. Gmuer et al. BIB004 , for example, demonstrated that a label's PF influenced taste evaluations: wine in a bottle with a label printed in a fluent font (Arial Narrow) was liked more than wine labeled with a disfluent font (Mistral) despite the fact that both the wine and label descriptions were identical. This study is an apt example of fluently processed materials' effect of increasing judgments of liking. A study by Song and Schwarz BIB001 has particularly strong implications for designing health materials. Participants were asked to read identical instructions for an exercise printed in an easy-to-read (12-point Arial) or difficult-to-read (12-point Brush) font. As predicted, they estimated that the exercise would take less time and felt quicker and more fluid when the font was easy to read than when it was difficult. Accordingly, participants also indicated greater willingness to make the exercise part of their daily routine when the font was easy to read. A similar effect was obtained in a study using the syllabus of an undergraduate college course BIB003 . Participants read an identical summary syllabus printed in an easy-toread (12-point Arial) or difficult-to-read (12-point Brush) font. As anticipated, participants believed they would receive higher grades and that the course would be easier when they read the more fluent font. These two studies support experienced fluency of written materials as a subjective indicator of the effort needed for a particular task. If materials are easy to read and fluently processed, the perception of the required effort decreases and recipients may have a greater willingness to undertake the task BIB002 . 