Toolbox of individual-level interventions against online misinformation.

The spread of misinformation through media and social networks threatens many aspects of society, including public health and the state of democracies. One approach to mitigating the effect of misinformation focuses on individual-level interventions, equipping policymakers and the public with essential tools to curb the spread and influence of falsehoods. Here we introduce a toolbox of individual-level interventions for reducing harm from online misinformation. Comprising an up-to-date account of interventions featured in 81 scientific papers from across the globe, the toolbox provides both a conceptual overview of nine main types of interventions, including their target, scope and examples, and a summary of the empirical evidence supporting the interventions, including the methods and experimental paradigms used to test them. The nine types of interventions covered are accuracy prompts, debunking and rebuttals, friction, inoculation, lateral reading and verification strategies, media-literacy tips, social norms, source-credibility labels, and warning and fact-checking labels.

Nudge-based misinformation interventions are effective in information environments with low misinformation prevalence.

Nudge-based misinformation interventions are presented as cheap and effective ways to reduce the spread of misinformation online. However, despite online information environments typically containing relatively low volumes of misinformation, most studies testing the effectiveness of nudge interventions present equal proportions of true and false information. As the effectiveness of nudges can be highly context-dependent, it is imperative to validate the effectiveness of nudge-based interventions in environments with more realistic proportions of misinformation. The current study (N = 1387) assessed the effectiveness of a combined accuracy and social-norm nudge in simulated social-media environments with varying proportions of misinformation (50%, 20%, and 12.5%) relative to true and non-news-based (i.e., "social") information. The nudge intervention was effective at improving sharing discernment in conditions with lower proportions of misinformation, providing ecologically valid support for the use of nudge-based interventions to counter misinformation propagation on social media.

Source-credibility information and social norms improve truth discernment and reduce engagement with misinformation online.

Misinformation on social media is a pervasive challenge. In this study (N = 415) a social-media simulation was used to test two potential interventions for countering misinformation: a credibility badge and a social norm. The credibility badge was implemented by associating accounts, including participants', with a credibility score. Participants' credibility score was dynamically updated depending on their engagement with true and false posts. To implement the social-norm intervention, participants were provided with both a descriptive norm (i.e., most people do not share misinformation) and an injunctive norm (i.e., sharing misinformation is the wrong thing to do). Both interventions were effective. The social-norm intervention led to reduced belief in false claims and improved discrimination between true and false claims. It also had some positive impact on social-media engagement, although some effects were not robust to alternative analysis specifications. The presence of credibility badges led to greater belief in true claims, lower belief in false claims, and improved discrimination. The credibility-badge intervention also had robust positive impacts on social-media engagement, leading to increased flagging and decreased liking and sharing of false posts. Cumulatively, the results suggest that both interventions have potential to combat misinformation and improve the social-media information landscape.

A seasonal comparison of a 14-day swing on cognitive function and psycho-physiological responses in mine service workers.

This study assessed the effect of season on cognitive function and psycho-physiological responses during a 14-day swing in mine-service workers. Cognitive function, thermal sensation and comfort, rating of perceived exertion, fatigue, hydration, core temperature and heart rate were assessed throughout a shift, on three separate days over a swing. Working memory and processing efficiency did not differ between seasons (p > 0.05), however counting and recall latencies improved throughout the swing (p < 0.05). Participants reported greater fatigue post-shift compared to pre-shift (p < 0.05). Thermal sensation, thermal comfort, and hydration were significantly elevated in summer compared to winter (p < 0.05). Specifically, workers were significantly/minimally dehydrated in summer/winter (urinary specific gravity = 1.025 ± 0.007/1.018 ± 0.007). Although cognitive function and thermal strain were not impaired in summer compared to winter, it is essential to reinforce worker's knowledge regarding hydration requirements. Additional education and/or incorporating scheduled rest breaks for hydration should be considered to ensure the health and safety of mine workers.

The (Mis)Information Game: A social media simulator.

Given the potential negative impact reliance on misinformation can have, substantial effort has gone into understanding the factors that influence misinformation belief and propagation. However, despite the rise of social media often being cited as a fundamental driver of misinformation exposure and false beliefs, how people process misinformation on social media platforms has been under-investigated. This is partially due to a lack of adaptable and ecologically valid social media testing paradigms, resulting in an over-reliance on survey software and questionnaire-based measures. To provide researchers with a flexible tool to investigate the processing and sharing of misinformation on social media, this paper presents The Misinformation Game-an easily adaptable, open-source online testing platform that simulates key characteristics of social media. Researchers can customize posts (e.g., headlines, images), source information (e.g., handles, avatars, credibility), and engagement information (e.g., a post's number of likes and dislikes). The platform allows a range of response options for participants (like, share, dislike, flag) and supports comments. The simulator can also present posts on individual pages or in a scrollable feed, and can provide customized dynamic feedback to participants via changes to their follower count and credibility score, based on how they interact with each post. Notably, no specific programming skills are required to create studies using the simulator. Here, we outline the key features of the simulator and provide a non-technical guide for use by researchers. We also present results from two validation studies. All the source code and instructions are freely available online at https://misinfogame.com .

Seasonal influence on cognitive and psycho-physiological responses to a single 11-h day of work in outdoor mine industry workers.

This study investigated the seasonal effects that working outdoors had on various parameters in mining industry workers over the course of a work-shift. Workers (n = 27) were assessed in summer (33.3 ± 4.2°C, 38 ± 18% RH; n = 13, age = 46 ± 14 y, BMI = 29.1 ± 5.7 kg/m2) and winter (23.6 ± 5.1°C, 39 ± 20% RH; n = 14, age = 44 ± 12 y, BMI = 31.2 ± 4.1 kg/m2). Core temperature and heart-rate were measured continuously (analyzed at five time points), while perceptual measures, cognitive and manual dexterity performance were assessed at various times over an 11-h shift at the start of a 14-day swing. Hydration was assessed (urine specific gravity) pre- and post-shift. Working memory was impaired in summer compared to winter (-10%; p = 0.039), however did not change throughout the shift. Processing efficiency was significantly reduced at 12 pm (-12%; p = 0.005) and 5 pm (-21%; p < 0.001) compared to 9 am, irrespective of season (p > 0.05). Manual dexterity (dominant-hand) improved over the shift (+13%, p = 0.002), but was not different between seasons. Perceived fatigue had no main effect of season or shift. Core temperature, heart-rate, thermal sensation and rating of perceived exertion increased throughout the shift, with only core temperature and thermal sensation showing a seasonal effect (summer: +0.33°C, +18%, respectively; p < 0.002). Notably, 23% of workers in summer and 64% in winter started work significantly dehydrated, with 54% and 64% in summer and winter, respectively, finishing work with significant to serious dehydration. Impairment in working memory in summer combined with high levels of dehydration over the work-shift reinforces the need for workplace education on the importance of hydration and risk of occupation heat stress. Abbreviations: Core temperature: Tc; Fly-in fly-out: FIFO; Ratings of perceived exertion: RPE; Relative humidity: RH; Urinary specific gravity: USG; Wet bulb globe temperature: WBGT.

Effective correction of misinformation.

This paper reviews correction effectiveness, highlighting which factors matter, which do not, and where further research is needed. To boost effectiveness, we recommend using detailed corrections and providing an alternative explanation wherever possible. We also recommend providing a reminder of the initial misinformation and repeating the correction. Presenting corrections pre-emptively (i.e., prebunking) or after misinformation exposure is unlikely to greatly impact correction effectiveness. There is also limited risk of repeating misinformation within a correction or that a correction will inadvertently spread misinformation to new audiences. Further research is needed into which correction formats are most effective, whether boosting correction memorability can enhance effectiveness, the effectiveness of discrediting a misinformation source, and whether distrusted correction sources can contribute to corrections backfiring.

Misinformation and the epistemic integrity of democracy.

Democracy relies on a shared body of knowledge among citizens, for example trust in elections and reliable knowledge to inform policy-relevant debate. We review the evidence for widespread disinformation campaigns that are undermining this shared knowledge. We establish a common pattern by which science and scientists are discredited and how the most recent frontier in those attacks involves researchers in misinformation itself. We list several ways in which psychology can contribute to countermeasures.

Listening to Misinformation while Driving: Cognitive Load and the Effectiveness of (Repeated) Corrections.

Corrected misinformation can continue to influence inferential reasoning. It has been suggested that such continued influence is partially driven by misinformation familiarity, and that corrections should therefore avoid repeating misinformation to avoid inadvertent strengthening of misconceptions. However, evidence for such familiarity-backfire effects is scarce. We tested whether familiarity backfire may occur if corrections are processed under cognitive load. Although misinformation repetition may boost familiarity, load may impede integration of the correction, reducing its effectiveness and therefore allowing a backfire effect to emerge. Participants listened to corrections that repeated misinformation while in a driving simulator. Misinformation familiarity was manipulated through the number of corrections. Load was manipulated through a math task administered selectively during correction encoding. Multiple corrections were more effective than a single correction; cognitive load reduced correction effectiveness, with a single correction entirely ineffective under load. This provides further evidence against familiarity-backfire effects and has implications for real-world debunking.

Comparing thermal strain in outdoor maintenance and indoor service workers in the mining industry during summer.

While working in the heat is a common practice within the Australian mining industry, it can lead to adverse effects on cognitive function, productivity, and physical health. This study aimed to compare the thermal strain experienced by maintenance workers and service workers in the mining industry during summer. Psycho-physiological parameters, manual dexterity, and cognitive function were assessed in maintenance workers (n = 12) and service workers (n = 12) employed at mine site villages in north-west Australia. Maintenance workers had the freedom to self-select their work intensity and predominantly worked outdoors (33.9±4.2°C, 38±18% RH), whereas service workers had to work to a fixed schedule and worked intermittently indoors (∼64% of work shift; 29.5±3.4°C, 48±8% RH) and outdoors (∼36%; 35.4±4.6°C, 47±21% RH). All workers underwent assessment at the beginning (day 2/3), middle (day 7/8), and end of their swing (day 13/14), at various time points throughout their 11-12 h shift. Service workers completed more steps (11282±1794 vs. 7774±2821; p<0.001), experienced a higher heart rate (p = 0.049) and reported higher ratings of perceived exertion (p<0.001), thermal discomfort (p<0.001), thermal sensation (p<0.001), and fatigue (p<0.012) compared to maintenance workers. Urinary specific gravity values were higher (less hydrated) in service workers (1.024±0.007) compared to maintenance workers (1.018±0.006; p = 0.007), with USG being overall higher post- compared to pre-shift (1.022±0.008 vs. 1.020±0.006; p<0.05). Core temperature, working memory capacity, processing speed and manual dexterity did not differ between occupations. Workers in hot environments who cannot self-select their work intensity should be educated about the importance of hydration before, during, and after their work-shifts and provided with more scheduled rest breaks during their shift. Employers should closely monitor workers for symptoms of heat illness, discomfort, and fatigue to ensure the health and safety of the workers.

Examining the replicability of backfire effects after standalone corrections.

Corrections are a frequently used and effective tool for countering misinformation. However, concerns have been raised that corrections may introduce false claims to new audiences when the misinformation is novel. This is because boosting the familiarity of a claim can increase belief in that claim, and thus exposing new audiences to novel misinformation-even as part of a correction-may inadvertently increase misinformation belief. Such an outcome could be conceptualized as a familiarity backfire effect, whereby a familiarity boost increases false-claim endorsement above a control-condition or pre-correction baseline. Here, we examined whether standalone corrections-that is, corrections presented without initial misinformation exposure-can backfire and increase participants' reliance on the misinformation in their subsequent inferential reasoning, relative to a no-misinformation, no-correction control condition. Across three experiments (total N = 1156) we found that standalone corrections did not backfire immediately (Experiment 1) or after a one-week delay (Experiment 2). However, there was some mixed evidence suggesting corrections may backfire when there is skepticism regarding the correction (Experiment 3). Specifically, in Experiment 3, we found the standalone correction to backfire in open-ended responses, but only when there was skepticism towards the correction. However, this did not replicate with the rating scales measure. Future research should further examine whether skepticism towards the correction is the first replicable mechanism for backfire effects to occur.

Impact of living and working in the heat on cognitive and psycho-physiological responses in outdoor fly-in fly-out tradesmen: a mining industry study.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate complex cognitive function, manual dexterity and psycho-physiological parameters in tradesmen working outdoors in the mining industry during summer and winter. Methods: Twenty-six males working in a mining village in the north-west of Australia were assessed pre- and post-an 11-h shift at the start, middle, and end of a 14-day swing in summer (average daily temperature: 33.9°C, 38% RH; n = 12) and winter (24.3°C, 36% RH; n = 14). Results: Working memory performance did not differ between seasons, over the swing or shift (p ≥ 0.053). Processing efficiency and manual dexterity performance did not differ between seasons (p ≥ 0.243), yet improved over the course of the swing (p ≤ 0.001) and shift (p ≤ 0.001). Core temperature, heart rate, thermal comfort, rating of perceived exertion and thermal sensation were not significantly different between seasons (p ≥ 0.076); however, average shift dehydration was greater in winter compared to summer (1.021 ± 0.005 vs. 1.018 ± 0.006; p = 0.014). Conclusion: The ability to self-regulate the intensity of activity likely helped outdoor workers to thermoregulate effectively, minimising thermal strain during their swings and shifts, in turn explaining unaltered cognitive function and manual dexterity performance between seasons. Regardless of season, workers should receive education on dehydration and workplace risks to protect their health.

Higher operating theatre temperature during burn surgery increases physiological heat strain, subjective workload, and fatigue of surgical staff.

Raising the ambient temperature of the operating theatre is common practice during burn surgeries to maintain the patient's core body temperature; however, the effects of operating in the heat on cognitive performance, manual dexterity, and perceived workload of surgical staff have not been assessed in a real-world context. Therefore, the aim was to assess the real-time impact of heat during burn surgeries on staff's cognitive function, manual dexterity, and perceptual measures (workload, thermal sensation, thermal comfort, perceived exertion, and fatigue) and physiological parameters (core temperature, heart-rate, fluid loss, and dehydration). Ten burn surgery staff members were assessed in CON (24.0±1.1°C, 45±6% relative humidity [RH]) and HOT (30.8±1.6°C, 39±7% RH) burn surgeries (average 150 min duration). Cognitive performance, manual dexterity, and perceptual measures were recorded pre- and post-surgery, while physiological parameters were recorded throughout surgery. HOT conditions did not significantly affect manual dexterity or cognitive function (p > .05), however HOT resulted in heat strain (increased heart-rate, core temperature, and fluid loss: p < .05), and increased subjective workload, discomfort, perceived exertion, and fatigue compared to CON conditions (p < .05). Cognitive function and manual dexterity were maintained in hot conditions, suggesting that operating in approximately 31°C heat is a safe approach for patient treatment. However, job burnout, which is positively correlated with perceived workload, and the impact of cumulative fatigue on the mental health of surgery staff, must be considered in the context of supporting an effective health workforce.

Correcting vaccine misinformation: A failure to replicate familiarity or fear-driven backfire effects.

Individuals often continue to rely on misinformation in their reasoning and decision making even after it has been corrected. This is known as the continued influence effect, and one of its presumed drivers is misinformation familiarity. As continued influence can promote misguided or unsafe behaviours, it is important to find ways to minimize the effect by designing more effective corrections. It has been argued that correction effectiveness is reduced if the correction repeats the to-be-debunked misinformation, thereby boosting its familiarity. Some have even suggested that this familiarity boost may cause a correction to inadvertently increase subsequent misinformation reliance; a phenomenon termed the familiarity backfire effect. A study by Pluviano et al. (2017) found evidence for this phenomenon using vaccine-related stimuli. The authors found that repeating vaccine "myths" and contrasting them with corresponding facts backfired relative to a control condition, ironically increasing false vaccine beliefs. The present study sought to replicate and extend this study. We included four conditions from the original Pluviano et al. study: the myths vs. facts, a visual infographic, a fear appeal, and a control condition. The present study also added a "myths-only" condition, which simply repeated false claims and labelled them as false; theoretically, this condition should be most likely to produce familiarity backfire. Participants received vaccine-myth corrections and were tested immediately post-correction, and again after a seven-day delay. We found that the myths vs. facts condition reduced vaccine misconceptions. None of the conditions increased vaccine misconceptions relative to control at either timepoint, or relative to a pre-intervention baseline; thus, no backfire effects were observed. This failure to replicate adds to the mounting evidence against familiarity backfire effects and has implications for vaccination communications and the design of debunking interventions.

Executive function and the continued influence of misinformation: A latent-variable analysis.

Misinformation can continue to influence reasoning after correction; this is known as the continued influence effect (CIE). Theoretical accounts of the CIE suggest failure of two cognitive processes to be causal, namely memory updating and suppression of misinformation reliance. Both processes can also be conceptualised as subcomponents of contemporary executive function (EF) models; specifically, working-memory updating and prepotent-response inhibition. EF may thus predict susceptibility to the CIE. The current study investigated whether individual differences in EF could predict individual differences in CIE susceptibility. Participants completed several measures of EF subcomponents, including those of updating and inhibition, as well as set shifting, and a standard CIE task. The relationship between EF and CIE was then assessed using a correlation analysis of the EF and CIE measures, as well as structural equation modelling of the EF-subcomponent latent variable and CIE latent variable. Results showed that EF can predict susceptibility to the CIE, especially the factor of working-memory updating. These results further our understanding of the CIE's cognitive antecedents and provide potential directions for real-world CIE intervention.

Would I lie to you? Party affiliation is more important than Brexit in processing political misinformation.

In recent years, the UK has become divided along two key dimensions: party affiliation and Brexit position. We explored how division along these two dimensions interacts with the correction of political misinformation. Participants saw accurate and inaccurate statements (either balanced or mostly inaccurate) from two politicians from opposing parties but the same Brexit position (Experiment 1), or the same party but opposing Brexit positions (Experiment 2). Replicating previous work, fact-checking statements led participants to update their beliefs, increasing belief after fact affirmations and decreasing belief for corrected misinformation, even for politically aligned material. After receiving fact-checks participants had reduced voting intentions and more negative feelings towards party-aligned politicians (likely due to low baseline support for opposing party politicians). For Brexit alignment, the opposite was found: participants reduced their voting intentions and feelings for opposing (but not aligned) politicians following the fact-checks. These changes occurred regardless of the proportion of inaccurate statements, potentially indicating participants expect politicians to be accurate more than half the time. Finally, although we found division based on both party and Brexit alignment, effects were much stronger for party alignment, highlighting that even though new divisions have emerged in UK politics, the old divides remain dominant.

What Simon "knows" about cultural differences: The influence of cultural orientation and traffic directionality on spatial compatibility effects.

Previous research has suggested that culture influences perception and attention. These studies have typically involved comparisons of Westerners with East Asians, motivated by assumed differences in the cultures' self-concept or position on the individualism-collectivism spectrum. However, other potentially important sources of cultural variance have been neglected, such as differences in traffic directionality shaped by the urban spatial environment (i.e., left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). Thus, existing research may potentially place too much emphasis on self-concepts or the individualism-collectivism dimension in explaining observed cultural differences in cognition. The present study investigated spatial cognition using a Simon task and tested participants from four nations (Australia, China, Germany, and Malaysia) that differ in both cultural orientation (collectivistic vs. individualistic) and traffic directionality (left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). The task used two possible reference frames underlying the Simon effect: a body-centered one based on global stimulus position relative to the screen's center versus an object-centered one based on local stimulus position relative to a context object. As expected, all groups showed a reliable Simon effect for both spatial reference frames. However, the global Simon effect was larger in participants from countries with left-hand traffic. In contrast, the local Simon effect was modulated by differences in cultural orientation, with larger effects in participants from collectivistic cultures. This pattern suggests that both sources of cultural variation, viz. cultural orientation and traffic directionality, contribute to differences in spatial cognition in distinct ways.

Examining the role of information integration in the continued influence effect using an event segmentation approach.

Misinformation regarding the cause of an event often continues to influence an individual's event-related reasoning, even after they have received a retraction. This is known as the continued influence effect (CIE). Dominant theoretical models of the CIE have suggested the effect arises primarily from failures to retrieve the correction. However, recent research has implicated information integration and memory updating processes in the CIE. As a behavioural test of integration, we applied an event segmentation approach to the CIE paradigm. Event segmentation theory suggests that incoming information is parsed into distinct events separated by event boundaries, which can have implications for memory. As such, when an individual encodes an event report that contains a retraction, the presence of event boundaries should impair retraction integration and memory updating, resulting in an enhanced CIE. Experiments 1 and 2 employed spatial event segmentation boundaries in an attempt to manipulate the ease with which a retraction can be integrated into a participant's mental event model. While Experiment 1 showed no impact of an event boundary, Experiment 2 yielded evidence that an event boundary resulted in a reduced CIE. To the extent that this finding reflects enhanced retrieval of the retraction relative to the misinformation, it is more in line with retrieval accounts of the CIE.

Impression formation stimuli: A corpus of behavior statements rated on morality, competence, informativeness, and believability.

To investigate impression formation, researchers tend to rely on statements that describe a person's behavior (e.g., "Alex ridicules people behind their backs"). These statements are presented to participants who then rate their impressions of the person. However, a corpus of behavior statements is costly to generate, and pre-existing corpora may be outdated and might not measure the dimension(s) of interest. The present study makes available a normed corpus of 160 contemporary behavior statements that were rated on 4 dimensions relevant to impression formation: morality, competence, informativeness, and believability. In addition, we show that the different dimensions are non-independent, exhibiting a range of linear and non-linear relationships, which may present a problem for past research. However, researchers interested in impression formation can control for these relationships (e.g., statistically) using the present corpus of behavior statements.

A comparison of prebunking and debunking interventions for implied versus explicit misinformation.

Psychological research has offered valuable insights into how to combat misinformation. The studies conducted to date, however, have three limitations. First, pre-emptive ("prebunking") and retroactive ("debunking") interventions have mostly been examined in parallel, and thus it is unclear which of these two predominant approaches is more effective. Second, there has been a focus on misinformation that is explicitly false, but implied misinformation that uses literally true information to mislead is common in the real world. Finally, studies have relied mainly on questionnaire measures of reasoning, neglecting behavioural impacts of misinformation and interventions. To offer incremental progress towards addressing these three issues, we conducted an experiment (N = 735) involving misinformation on fair trade. We contrasted the effectiveness of prebunking versus debunking and the impacts of implied versus explicit misinformation, and incorporated novel measures assessing consumer behaviours (i.e., willingness-to-pay; information seeking; online misinformation promotion) in addition to standard questionnaire measures. In general, both prebunking and debunking reduced misinformation reliance. We also found that individuals tended to rely more on explicit than implied misinformation both with and without interventions.