Barnwell Patrick V, Fedorenko Erick J, Contrada Richard J
Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 53 Avenue E, Piscataway, New Brunswick, NJ, 08854-8040, USA.
J Behav Med. 2022 Apr;45(2):306-317. doi: 10.1007/s10865-021-00256-4. Epub 2021 Sep 18.
Despite its ubiquity, little is known about the impact of exposure to conflicting health information on cognitive efficiency. We hypothesized that it would reduce attentional capacity, as evidenced by (1) increased response errors during the Attention Network Test (ANT), (2) decreased efficiency of each ANT system (alerting, orienting, execute control), and (3) increased self-reported workload, (4) nutritional confusion and (5) nutritional backlash. A sample of 184 online participants were assigned randomly to read an article containing either congruent or conflicting health information. Subsequently, they completed the ANT and self-report measures of workload, nutritional confusion, and backlash at nutritional recommendations and research. Participants in the conflicting health information condition made more errors, had overall slower reaction times, and reported greater workload, nutritional confusion, and backlash. No differences were found for individual ANT systems. These findings suggest that exposure to conflicting health information can degrade attentional mechanisms responsible for accurate and prompt responding to incoming information.
尽管相互矛盾的健康信息无处不在，但对于接触此类信息对认知效率的影响却知之甚少。我们推测，这会降低注意力容量，表现为：（1）在注意力网络测试（ANT）中反应错误增加；（2）ANT各系统（警觉、定向、执行控制）的效率降低；（3）自我报告的工作量增加；（4）营养认知混乱；（5）营养抵触。184名在线参与者被随机分配阅读一篇包含一致或相互矛盾的健康信息的文章。随后，他们完成了ANT测试以及关于工作量、营养认知混乱和对营养建议与研究的抵触的自我报告测量。接触相互矛盾的健康信息的参与者出现了更多错误，总体反应时间更慢，并且报告了更大的工作量、营养认知混乱和抵触情绪。在ANT各系统方面未发现差异。这些发现表明，接触相互矛盾的健康信息会削弱负责准确、迅速回应传入信息的注意力机制。
