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Zhao R, Lu X, Yang J, Li B. Understanding the Impact of Communicating Uncertainty About COVID-19 in the News: Randomized Between-Subjects Factorial Experiment. J Med Internet Res 2024; 26:e51910. [PMID: 38743940 PMCID: PMC11095512 DOI: 10.2196/51910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Whether and how the uncertainty about a public health crisis should be communicated to the general public have been important and yet unanswered questions arising over the past few years. As the most threatening contemporary public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has renewed interest in these unresolved issues by both academic scholars and public health practitioners. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of communicating uncertainty about COVID-19-related threats and solutions on individuals' risk perceptions and misinformation vulnerability, as well as the sequential impact of these effects on health information processing and preventative behavioral intentions. METHODS A 2×2 (threat uncertainty [presence vs absence]×solution uncertainty [presence vs absence]) full-fractional between-subjects online experiment was conducted with 371 Chinese adults. Focusing on the discussion of whether the asymptomatic cases detected during the COVID-19 pandemic would further lead to an uncontrolled pandemic, news articles were manipulated in terms of whether the infectiousness of asymptomatic cases and the means to control the transmission are presented in terms of their certainty or uncertainty. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions, being instructed to read one news article. After reading the news article assigned, participants were asked to respond to a series of questions to assess their cognitive and behavioral responses. RESULTS Individuals were more susceptible to believing false COVID-19-related information when a certain threat and uncertain solution were framed in the news article. Moreover, individuals' perceptions of crisis severity increased when exposed to news information containing uncertain solutions. Both misinformation vulnerability and perceived severity were positively associated with information processing. Information seeking was positively associated with protective behavioral intention, whereas information avoidance was negatively associated with protective behavioral intention. CONCLUSIONS Our findings imply that uncertainty, depending on its aspect, can be effectively communicated to the public during an emerging public health crisis. These results have theoretical and practical implications for health communicators and journalists. Given its limited influence on individuals' cognitive and behavioral responses, uncertainty related to a health threat should be disseminated to meet the public's expectation of information transparency. However, caution is advised when communicating uncertainty related to potential solutions, as this factor exhibited a mixed impact on individual responses during a crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Zhao
- School of Journalism and Communication, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China
| | - Xuerong Lu
- School of Communication, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States
| | - Jiayi Yang
- School of Chinese Language and Literature, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
| | - Biao Li
- School of Journalism, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
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Hajahmadi S, Marfia G. Effects of the Uncertainty of Interpersonal Communications on Behavioral Responses of the Participants in an Immersive Virtual Reality Experience: A Usability Study. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:2148. [PMID: 36850748 PMCID: PMC9965476 DOI: 10.3390/s23042148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Two common difficulties which people face in their daily lives are managing effective communication with others and dealing with what makes them feel uncertain. Past research highlights that the result of not being able to handle these difficulties influences people's performance in the task at hand substantially, especially in the context of a social environment such as a workplace. Perceived uncertainty of information is a key influential factor in this regard, with effects on the quality of the information transfer between sender and receiver. Uncertainty of information can be induced into the communication system in three ways: when there is any kind of information deficit that makes the target message unclear for the receiver, when there are some requested changes that could not be predicted by the receiver, and when the content of the message is so interconnected and complex that it limits understanding. Since uncertainty is an inseparable feature of our lives, studying the effects that different levels of it have on individuals and how individuals nevertheless accomplish the tasks of daily living is of high importance. Modern technologies such as immersive virtual reality (VR) have been successful in providing effective platforms to support human behavioral and social well-being studies. In this paper, we suggest the design, development, and evaluation of an immersive VR serious game platform to study behavioral responses to the uncertain features of interpersonal communications. In addition, we report the result of a within-subject user study with 17 participants aged between 20 and 35 and their behavioral responses to two levels of uncertainty with subjective and objective measures. The results convey that the application successfully and meaningfully measured some behavioral responses related to exposure to different levels of uncertainty and overall, the participants were satisfied with the experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shirin Hajahmadi
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Gustavo Marfia
- Department of the Arts, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
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Mason LA, Thomas AK, Taylor HA. On the proposed role of metacognition in environment learning: recommendations for research. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2022; 7:104. [PMID: 36575318 PMCID: PMC9794647 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-022-00454-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Metacognition plays a role in environment learning (EL). When navigating, we monitor environment information to judge our likelihood to remember our way, and we engage in control by using tools to prevent getting lost. Yet, the relationship between metacognition and EL is understudied. In this paper, we examine the possibility of leveraging metacognition to support EL. However, traditional metacognitive theories and methodologies were not developed with EL in mind. Here, we use traditional metacognitive theories and approaches as a foundation for a new examination of metacognition in EL. We highlight three critical considerations about EL. Namely: (1) EL is a complex process that unfolds sequentially and is thereby enriched with multiple different types of cues, (2) EL is inherently driven by a series of ecologically relevant motivations and constraints, and (3) monitoring and control interact to support EL. In doing so, we describe how task demands and learning motivations inherent to EL should shape how metacognition is explored. With these considerations, we provide three methodological recommendations for investigating metacognition during EL. Specifically, researchers should: (1) instantiate EL goals to impact learning, metacognition, and retrieval processes, (2) prompt learners to make frequent metacognitive judgments and consider metacognitive accuracy as a primary performance metric, and (3) incorporate insights from both transfer appropriate processing and monitoring hypotheses when designing EL assessments. In summary, to effectively investigate how metacognition impacts EL, both ecological and methodological considerations need to be weighed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A Mason
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
| | - Ayanna K Thomas
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Holly A Taylor
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
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Ajovalasit S, Dorgali VM, Mazza A, d’Onofrio A, Manfredi P. Evidence of disorientation towards immunization on online social media after contrasting political communication on vaccines. Results from an analysis of Twitter data in Italy. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253569. [PMID: 34242253 PMCID: PMC8270452 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Background In Italy, in recent years, vaccination coverage for key immunizations as MMR has been declining to worryingly low levels, with large measles outbreaks. As a response in 2017, the Italian government expanded the number of mandatory immunizations introducing penalties to unvaccinated children’s families. During the 2018 general elections campaign, immunization policy entered the political debate with the government in-charge blaming oppositions for fuelling vaccine scepticism. A new government (formerly in the opposition) established in 2018 temporarily relaxed penalties and announced the introduction of forms of flexibility. Objectives and methods First, we supplied a definition of disorientation, as the “lack of well-established and resilient opinions among individuals, therefore causing them to change their positions as a consequence of sufficient external perturbations”. Second, procedures for testing for the presence of both short and longer-term collective disorientation in Twitter signals were proposed. Third, a sentiment analysis on tweets posted in Italian during 2018 on immunization topics, and related polarity evaluations, were used to investigate whether the contrasting announcements at the highest political level might have originated disorientation amongst the Italian public. Results Vaccine-relevant tweeters’ interactions peaked in response to main political events. Out of retained tweets, 70.0% resulted favourable to vaccination, 16.4% unfavourable, and 13.6% undecided, respectively. The smoothed time series of polarity proportions exhibit frequent large changes in the favourable proportion, superimposed to a clear up-and-down trend synchronized with the switch between governments in Spring 2018, suggesting evidence of disorientation among the public. Conclusions The reported evidence of disorientation for opinions expressed in online social media shows that critical health topics, such as vaccination, should never be used to achieve political consensus. This is worsened by the lack of a strong Italian institutional presence on Twitter, calling for efforts to contrast misinformation and the ensuing spread of hesitancy. It remains to be seen how this disorientation will impact future parents’ vaccination decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Ajovalasit
- Department of Economics and Business, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
- Department of Environmental Science, Informatics, and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Veronica Maria Dorgali
- Department of Statistics, Computer Science, Applications "G. Parenti" (DISIA), University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Angelo Mazza
- Department of Economics and Business, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - Alberto d’Onofrio
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- International Prevention Research Institute, Lyon, France
| | - Piero Manfredi
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
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Galido A, Ecleo JJ, Husnayain A, Chia-Yu Su E. Exploring online search behavior for COVID-19 preventive measures: The Philippine case. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0249810. [PMID: 33831076 PMCID: PMC8031411 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Public health agencies have suggested nonpharmaceutical interventions to curb the spread of the COVID-19 infections. The study intended to explore the information-seeking behavior and information needs on preventive measures for COVID-19 in the Philippine context. The search interests and related queries for COVID-19 terms and each of the preventive measures for the period from December 31, 2019 to April 6, 2020 were generated from Google Trends. The search terms employed for COVID-19 were coronavirus, ncov, covid-19, covid19 and “covid 19.” The search terms of the preventive measures considered for this study included “community quarantine”, “cough etiquette”, “face mask” or facemask, “hand sanitizer”, handwashing or “hand washing” and “social distancing.” Spearman’s correlation was employed between the new daily COVID-19 cases, COVID-19 terms and the different preventive measures. The relative search volume for the coronavirus disease showed an increase up to the pronouncement of the country’s first case of COVID-19. An uptrend was also evident after the country’s first local transmission was confirmed. A strong positive correlation (rs = .788, p < .001) was observed between the new daily cases and search interests for COVID-19. The search interests for the different measures and the new daily cases were also positively correlated. Similarly, the search interests for the different measures and the COVID-19 terms were all positively correlated. The search interests for “face mask” or facemask, “hand sanitizer” and handwashing or “hand washing” were more correlated with the search interest for COVID-19 than with the number of new daily COVID-19 cases. The search interests for “cough etiquette”, “social distancing” and “community quarantine” were more correlated with the number of new daily COVID-19 cases than with the search interest for COVID-19. The public sought for additional details such as type, directions for proper use, and where to purchase as well as do-it-yourself alternatives for personal protective items. Personal protective or community measures were expected to be accompanied with definitions and guidelines as well as be available in translated versions. Google Trends could be a viable option to monitor and address the information needs of the public during a disease outbreak. Capturing and analyzing the search interests of the public could support the design and timely delivery of appropriate information essential to drive preventive measures during a disease outbreak.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Galido
- Department of Information Technology, College of Computer Studies, MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan, Philippines
- * E-mail:
| | - Jerina Jean Ecleo
- Department of Information Technology, College of Computer Studies, MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan, Philippines
| | - Atina Husnayain
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Population Health, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Emily Chia-Yu Su
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Clinical Big Data Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
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Solomon Y, Bronstein J. The information-gathering practice of liberal professionals in a workplace setting: More than just seeking information. JOURNAL OF LIBRARIANSHIP AND INFORMATION SCIENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.1177/0961000621992810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Existing models of the information behaviour of various liberal professionals, especially lawyers, lack currentness. They do not adequately represent the full scope of how these professionals de facto attain information in their occupation. Without clarity about the contemporary information-gathering practice of liberal professionals in a workplace setting, scholars, technology entrepreneurs and policy makers might be relying on partial or outdated grounds, and the ability of the information specialists to provide an effective service for their patrons might also be hindered. With a focus on legal professionals, as they have experienced noteworthy changes in their occupation, purposive sampling was applied, and 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with practising lawyers in Israel. Participants were nationwide and ranged over 30 different areas of legal practice, with a fair diversity of other professionals and personal traits achieved. The content analysis revealed four distinctive forms in which lawyers in Israel gather information within the contemporary legal practice: (a) self-executed information-seeking, (b) mediated acquisition of information, (c) information discovery and (d) combined information-gathering – which in all compile 10 different habitual strategies of gathering information in their professional work. Finally, the study suggests a revised, integrative and inclusive model that provides a more accurate and profound understanding of legal professionals’ information-gathering practice. This comprehensive and current framework may serve as an insightful guide for understanding other information-rich liberal professions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yosef Solomon
- Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
| | - Jenny Bronstein
- Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
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