Effects of cognitive biases on the perception of health-related (mis)information and their behavioral and neural correlates, RSF 23-78-10035

Project leader: Elena Artemenko

Participants: Sergey Koltsov, Evgenia Alenina, Alexia Syromyatnikova, Mikhail Yatsenko, Maxim Lihankov, Sofya Popova

In cognitive research, an individual's orientation in the flow of informational messages and the choice of which information to trust and which not to, is traditionally considered a result of logical operations within the decision-making system. However, in reality, such decisions are almost always influenced by individual and universal systematic errors in cognitive thinking schemes known as cognitive biases. One such bias, known as confirmation bias, involves an individual's inclination to trust information that seems consistent with their beliefs. Distorted interpretation of information messages can lead to the subsequent spread of unreliable (false) information. This has become one of the primary socio-cultural threats affecting the success of socially significant public initiatives, including those related to public health, such as vaccination campaigns (both during pandemics and routine vaccination situations).

At present, although the topic of confirmation bias distortion is well-developed in social sciences overall, it is poorly studied concerning health-related information, especially in the Russian context. Moreover, oculomotor and neurophysiological markers, which could form the basis for a more objective measurement of the results of this process, remain completely unexplored. Obtaining a more objective and accurate understanding of the influence of biases on information processing would help develop more effective measures to combat trust in unreliable information and prevent its spread. This lack of knowledge forms the scientific problem addressed by this research.

The main goal of the conducted research: to assess the influence of confirmation bias cognitive distortion on trust in information messages, using health-related information as an example, and to identify oculomotor and neurophysiological markers of behavioral and neural differences in the perception of medical text corresponding or not corresponding to user beliefs, including through machine learning methods allowing for its objective measurement in the future.

Key objectives:

1. Evaluation of the impact of confirmation bias cognitive distortion on trust in informational messages within the medical field (specifically in the context of population vaccination).
2. Identification of behavioral and neural differences in the perception of medical text that aligns or contrasts with users' beliefs, including through the utilization of machine learning methods.

1. XXIV Congress of the I.P. Pavlov Physiological Society, poster presentation: "Oculomotor Correlates of Cognitive Bias Confirmation Bias," co-authors: Artemenko E.D., Zhitkova A.V., Alenina E.A., Koltsova E.Y., September 11-15, 2023, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
2. VIII International Conference "Video and Audio Signal Processing in the Context of Neurotechnologies" (SPCN 2023), oral presentation: "Using Machine Learning Methods in the Analysis of Oculomotor Data," November 7-10, 2023, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
3. International Forum on Cognitive Neurosciences "COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE – 2023," oral presentation: "Modification of the Implicit Association Test for Assessing Attitudes Toward Vaccination," co-authors: A.Y. Syromyatnikova, L.V. Mararitsa, E.D. Artemenko, December 7-9, 2023, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
4. Scientific Seminar "Consumption of Health Information on the Internet: Experimental and Computational Methods of Analysis," oral presentation: "Implicit Association Test as a Method for Measuring Attitudes Toward Vaccination," co-authors: A.Y. Syromyatnikova, E.D. Artemenko, L.V. Mararitsa, M.A. Terpilovsky. April 26, 2024, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
5. X International Conference on Cognitive Science, poster presentation: "Validation of the Modified Implicit Association Test for Assessing Attitudes Toward Vaccination," June 24-26, 2024, Pyatigorsk, Russia.

1. Review article “Review of the Experience Using Event-Related Potentials in Studies of the Implicit Component of Cognitive Biases” in the Journal of Higher Nervous Activity named after I.P. Pavlov (accepted for publication in the fourth issue of 2024).
2. Article “In the Blink of an Eye: Behavioural Correlates of the Confirmation Bias Effect” in the journal Cognitive Processing (in progress).
3. Review article “Machine Learning Algorithms in EEG and Eye-Tracking Technologies: Review” in the journal PeerJ Computer Science (in progress).
4. Submitted for IP registration: Database “Text Collection of True and False Messages on Vaccination with Valence and Sentiment Annotations,” application No. 1465350, submission date 07.05.2024.

• SCILA Research Results Presented in Pyatigorsk.
• SCILA hosted a scientific seminar titled "Health Information Consumption on the Internet: Experimental and Computational Analysis Methods."

• The project from the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg on cognitive biases and health won a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF)