Students often feel as though they are learning new material more effectively when the learning process feels more fluent and comes easily to them. However, by definition, desirable difficulties produce a more challenging and effortful learning process. This leads to learners feeling like they are worse off when judging their learning process while using desirable difficulties, and often don't recognize how they will be benefiting from it long term. These metacognitive evaluations based on misleading learning fluency cues or the quality of learning subsequently influence students' decisions about engaging in more difficult study conditions.

Metacognition and effects on Desirable Difficulties

Two main components of memory, retrieval strength (current accessibility) and storage strength (long-term learning), influence learning outcomes. When desirable difficulties are utilized, storage strength increases, while retrieval strength stays relatively low throughout the beginning of the learning process. By contrast, using learning strategies that are not desirable difficulties, such as massing, can result in immediately high levels of retrieval strength, but never work as well to increase storage strength. 

Memory and effects on Desirable Difficulties

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

A learning task that requires a considerable but desirable amount of effort, thereby improving long-term performance.

Examples:

- Interleaving Materials
- Spacing Studying
- Generation Effect
- Retrieval practice (testing)
- Varying Study Conditions

Desirable Difficulties

Long term retention improves when you generate your own questions and answers rather than getting presented with them. The Generation Effect also explains why reading/highlighting are not very effective compared to generating new materials.

Generation Effect

Interleaving refers to studying different concepts in a single period of time. Although it may seem more difficult at the time of studying, interleaving information during study time improves long term retention of the materials. 

Example: When studying for a cumulative final, it may seem easy to study a single chapter each day leading up to the exam. However, for long term retention, you should study parts of multiple chapter each day, thus interleaving the topics.

Interleaving Study Materials

Information can become associated with the context and conditions of study sessions. Thus, varying study conditions will improve later recall. To better retain information, it is important to alter aspects of studying.

Examples of variation:

-environment

-duration

-type of study (flashcards, group work, etc.)

Vary Study Conditions

Desirable Difficulties References

The cognitive bases of desirable difficulties: memory and metacognition  

Whether or not students decide to engage in learning processes such as desirable difficulties greatly depends on how motivated they are to do so. This motivation can be influenced by a number of factors, including:
- memory of prior experiences
- task outcome expectancy/value
- achievement goal orientation
- affective state
- consequences on grades
- beliefs of competency 
- how the task is framed

Motivation and desirable difficulties: Variables effecting self-regulatory learning processes

Long-term recall is improved when studying is broken up into many short sessions rather than long concentrated ones (memory consolidation is improved). 

Spacing effect

Studying by practice tests improves encoding into long term memory more than rereading passages (while there is no difference in short term understanding).
- using tests as learning events 
- question asking
- flashcards

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