A Multiverse Lack of Replication for Working Memory Capacity as Moderator of the Perceptual Disfluency Effect

Lehmann et al. (2016) investigated working memory capacity (WMC) as a boundary condition for disfluency in an Aptitude-Treatment-Interaction-Study (Metacognition and Learning, 11, 89–105) and, confirming predictions, found that only learners with higher WMC benefited from disfluency in retention and comprehension. Remarkably, retention with fluent texts was similar across WMC levels, while, counterintuitively, higher WMC descriptively predicted lower comprehension. This data pattern underlying their significant interactions is noteworthy and based on a small sample. Due to researchers’ degrees of freedom in analytical decisions, we explored the replicability and analytical robustness of the primary findings by modeling different subjective choices in the analytical approach via multiverse analysis. In our (pre-registered) direct replication in the laboratory (N = 220) disfluency, WMC, and their interaction showed null effects on retention, comprehension, and transfer across all multiverse specifications, including when WMC was operationalized via OSPAN. This reflects a consistent lack of (analytical) replicability.Keywords: disfluency, working memory capacity, operation span task, ATI-study