Psychology Commons^™

The Outer Limits Of Cognitive Processing: A Closer Look At What Is Desirable, Zachary K. Walter

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Cognitive tasks are most satisfying when they include the right balance between ease and difficulty (Labroo & Kim, 2008). This balance is viewed as optimal for high quality and progressive learning in school and societal contexts (Bjork & Bjork, 1992). This idea is the basis of the concept of desirable difficulties, which are defined as certain difficulties in the learning process that can greatly improve long-term retention of learned material (Bjork & Bjork, 1992). Having received a lot of attention in recent research, they allow for one to develop questions about how we, as humans, approach certain tasks and where …