Disfluent, but fast

Processing fluency, a metacognitive feeling of ease of cognitive processing, serves as a cue in various types of judgments. Response times are sometimes used for evaluation of fluency of a cognitive process; that is, shorter response times are said to indicate fluency. The present study tested whether disfluency may lead to faster decision times when it serves as a strong cue in judgment. Retrieval fluency was manipulated using previous presentation and phonological fluency by varying pronounceability of pseudowords. Both retrieval and phonological fluency increased liking of pseudowords. Furthermore, the results showed the predicted inverted-U shaped relationship between pronounceability and decision times. Decisions were faster for disfluent and fluent pseudowords than for moderately fluent pseudowords. The present study thus demonstrates the importance of separating different processes comprising judgment when response times are used as a proxy for processing fluency.