Claims

The interaction of complexity and desirable difficulty does not significantly affect posttest performance

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i? The complexity × desirable difficulty interaction was not significant on multivariate or univariate levels for time or trials. → Ines Zeitlhofer 2026

Evidence

Ines Zeitlhofer 2026

Ines Zeitlhofer, Joerg Zumbach. (2026). Germane processes moderate the effectiveness of complex desirable difficulty tasks. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-026-09807-1

q3 · i? · causal · r2

In the factorial MANOVA, the hypothesized amplifying interaction (Hypothesis 1.3) was "not significant on either a multivariate level" or univariate level for time and trials; no effect size beyond the printed η² values was reported.

"However, the interaction of complexity and desirable difficulty was not significant on either a multivariate level ( F (2, 127) = 2.32, p = .10; η² = 0.04; Hypothesis 1.3) or a univariate level (time: F (1, 128) = 0.67, p = .42, η² = 0.01; trials: F (1, 128) = 1.23, p = .27, η² = 0.01)."

Discussion

Page metadata
Field Value
type claim
id complexity-difficulty-interaction-not-significant-performance
title The interaction of complexity and desirable difficulty does not significantly affect posttest performance
description The interaction of complexity and desirable difficulty does not significantly affect posttest performance
status review
evidence_strength moderate
newest_evidence 2026
generated by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-18
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — ines-zeitlhofer-2026

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