Some Studies on Desirable Difficulties
- đ¤ Speaker: Dr Danny Oppenheimer, Professor at UCLA with a joint appointment in the Anderson School of Management and the Department of Psychology
- đ Date & Time: Tuesday 16 June 2015, 16:30 - 18:00
- đ Venue: Faculty of Education, 184 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PQ, (Rm GS5, Donald McIntyre Building)
Abstract
From channel factors to nudges, research has repeatedly shown that an effective way to encourage behavior change is to make that behavior easier. Similarly, adding difficulty via cognitive load generally reduces performance across a large number of mental activities. This has led many psychologists and educators to conclude that a primary route to facilitating successful cognition is to simplify tasks and make them easier. However, there are times where making things easy can reduce cognitive performance, undermine motivation, and lead to metacognitive mis-calibration. This talk reviews some studies from my lab over the past half a dozen years on desirable difficulties â when increased difficulty improves performance and educational achievement.
Series This talk is part of the Psychology & Education series.
Included in Lists
- All Faculty of Education Seminars
- Cambridge Forum of Science and Humanities
- Cambridge Language Sciences
- Cambridge talks
- Chris Davis' list
- Faculty of Education, 184 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PQ, (Rm GS5, Donald McIntyre Building)
- FERSA - All Events
- Guy Emerson's list
- Yishu's list
Note: Ex-directory lists are not shown.
![[Talks.cam]](/static/images/talkslogosmall.gif)

Dr Danny Oppenheimer, Professor at UCLA with a joint appointment in the Anderson School of Management and the Department of Psychology
Tuesday 16 June 2015, 16:30-18:00