Sans Forgetica does not boost memory as previously claimed

According to four experiments carried out by scientists from the University of Warwick and the University of Waikato in New Zealand previously claimed memory boosting font “Sans Forgetica” does not actually boost memory. 

The font was previously claimed that could enhance people’s memory for information displayed in that font, compared to reading information in an ordinary font eg. Arial-, however, it does not.

“The Sans Forgetica font has received much press coverage, after researchers in Australia claimed they had designed a new font that would boost memory by making information that appeared in the new font feel more difficult to read – and therefore remembered better” reads the statement by the University of Warwick. 

“The original team carried out a study on 400 students, and found that 57% remembered facts written in Sans Forgetica, whereas 50% remembered facts written in Arial.

But a team of scientist led by the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and involving the University of Warwick, has just published their new findings in the paper 'Disfluent difficulties are not desirable difficulties: the (lack of) effect of Sans Forgetica on memory' in the journal Memory. 

“After conducting four peer-reviewed experiments into Sans Forgetica and comparing it to Arial, we can confidently say that Sans Forgetica promotes a feeling of disfluency, but does not boost memory like it is claimed to” comments Dr Kimberley Wade, from the Department of Psychology. 

“In fact, it seems like although Sans Forgetica is novel and hard to read, its effects might well end there” she adds. 

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