Researchers use the term desirable difficulty to refer to:
A) situations that make acquiring new knowledge more challenging, but help long-term learning.
B) events that allow students to "blow off steam" and improve short-term performance.
C) obstacles that distract from studying and decrease long-term learning.
D) situations that students say improve the effectiveness of their studying, but which really impairs it.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Desirable difficulty refers to situations that make acquiring new knowledge more challenging, but help long-term learning. This can include tasks or activities that require effortful processing, retrieval practice, and spaced repetition. The idea is that by having to work harder to learn something, the information is more likely to be stored in long-term memory and easier to retrieve later on.

Researchers Use the Term Desirable Difficulty to Refer To