Effects of Perceptual Fluency on Judgments of Truth

It is concluded that perceptual fluency affects judgments of truth in statements presented in colors that made them easy or difficult to read against a white background.

Abstract

Statements of the form "Osorno is in Chile" were presented in colors that made them easy or difficult to read against a white background and participants judged the truth of the statement. Moderately visible statements were judged as true at chance level, whereas highly visible statements were judged as true significantly above chance level. We conclude that perceptual fluency affects judgments of truth.