NSF Award
2224565
Misinformation shared via news and social media platforms has negative consequences. For example, misinformation about safe and effective COVID vaccines has reduced intent to receive them. Websites have been designed to counteract misinformation by indicating contradictory information. But this approach may not always be effective because reminding people of misinformation can make it more believable. The project team is evaluating a reminding technique that recently improved memory and belief accuracy in internet news headlines in college students who were immediately tested. The project advances areas of social and behavioral sciences by revealing the mental processes that improve memory and belief accuracy for everyday news. This could benefit public health and national defense by establishing whether this implementable method counteracts health-based and other misinformation that can be propagated by foreign sources. This project supports the education of a diverse student body by being conducted at a university that emphasizes student research training and attracts students from many backgrounds. Both undergraduate and graduate students are training in theoretical and practical approaches to research and analysis that will prepare them for STEM careers.<br/><br/>The current project is examining whether benefits of misinformation reminders generalize to various situation in representative US samples. Specifically, the project is testing if the benefits extend from: presentation and test delays of minutes to days, news headlines with text and images to podcasts and news videos, and partisan-neutral to partisan-specific information sources varying in perceived credibility. Participants are first being exposed to real and fake internet news story headlines and then learning real news corrections that sometimes appear after participants are reminded of fake news. Participants’ recall accuracy and beliefs in recalled details are then being tested. The findings will illuminate when, how, and from whom reminders of everyday internet-based misinformation effectively promote accurate memory and beliefs.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
