Exploring the neurophysiological basis of misinformation: A behavioral and neural complexity analysis

Abstract

The proliferation of misinformation on social media platforms poses significant challenges to public health, political discourse, and social cohesion. This study investigates the efficacy of a World Health Organization (WHO) infodemic intervention in mitigating the spread of misinformation and explores the underlying neural mechanisms involved in information processing. A sample of 77 university students was randomly assigned to an experimental group, which was exposed to the WHO's infodemic intervention, or a control group, which received a campaign on healthy lifestyle habits. Participants viewed a series of manipulated and non-manipulated tweets before and after the intervention, rating their likelihood to share, verify, and perceive the truthfulness of the information. Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were collected throughout the experiment to assess neural complexity using Sample Entropy (SampEn) measures. Results revealed that the experimental group significantly reduced their intention to share information and perceived truthfulness of both manipulated and non-manipulated items post-intervention. The control group showed no significant changes. EEG analysis demonstrated higher SampEn scores in the frontal and temporal regions for the experimental group post-intervention, indicating increased neural complexity and more homogeneous activation patterns. These findings suggest that the WHO intervention effectively enhanced participants' critical evaluation of information, reflected in both behavioral and neurophysiological changes. This study contributes to the growing body of research on misinformation interventions by providing evidence for the effectiveness of passive, less demanding campaigns in fostering critical thinking and information discernment. Moreover, it offers novel insights into the neural correlates of information processing following such interventions, highlighting the potential of combining behavioral and neurophysiological measures in misinformation research. These findings have important implications for developing targeted strategies to combat misinformation, enhance digital literacy, and inform future public health and policy initiatives in the digital era.